Tucson Region
Cops: Quarrel behind wheel leads to pedestrian's death
Couple found to be impaired after fatality
By Dale Quinn
arizona daily star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.21.2007
After a night of heavy drinking at their Foothills apartment, Kenneth Marlette and Audrey Klosterman climbed into their minivan Thursday morning and headed to a convenience store for more beer.
As they drove north on Sabino Canyon Road shortly after 8 a.m., they began to argue about their recent beer purchase, a sheriff's official said.
Marlette was driving, said Pima County sheriff's Lt. Karl Woolridge, but Klosterman grabbed the steering wheel and the minivan veered well off the road, fatally striking a woman who was walking her dog on the mild September morning.
Authorities identified the woman as Julia Sunderlin, 50. Her dog was a mixed-breed named Gertie.
"It's a horrific combination of an impaired driver and a lot of people out in the morning," said Woolridge.
Just minutes before, he said, children were waiting for the school bus on the side of Sabino Canyon Road near where the crash occurred.
Marlette, 37, and Klosterman, 26, live together in the 4800 block of North Sabino Canyon Road and are engaged, Woolridge said.
They both were arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder, even though Klosterman wasn't driving.
"The case law supports that once someone grabs the wheel of the car, they have taken control of that car," Woolridge said.
Sunderlin, who lived in the area, had taken up walking with Gertie in recent years to get exercise.
She was heading south on the east side of Sabino Canyon Road with Gertie when the gray Chevrolet Venture came hurtling toward her. She was thrown 30 feet before striking a utility pole, said Deputy Dawn Hanke, a Pima County sheriff's spokeswoman.
Sunderlin was taken to University Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. She had worked for UMC from her home as a medical transcriptionist for about 11 years.
Her dog wound up under the wheels of the car and also died, Hanke said.
When deputies arrived at the scene they at first saw only one person in the car, Woolridge said.
Klosterman was huddled in the back of the minivan, sobbing and saying something like "I killed her, I killed her," Woolridge said.
Klosterman was combative with deputies when they pulled her out of the van, spitting on them and acting aggressively, Woolridge said.
She also was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault.
Both occupants were obviously intoxicated and failed field-sobriety tests, Woolridge said. The couple also had open containers of alcohol in the minivan.
Sunderlin was about 20 feet off the road when she was struck about 8:20 a.m. near East Windriver Drive, about a half-mile south of East Sunrise Drive.
Marlette and Klosterman are each being held in the Pima County Jail on $500,000 bonds.
So far this year, the Pima County Sheriff's Department has responded to 13 fatal accidents, Woolridge said. This is the second in which it was confirmed that alcohol was a factor, he said.
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? Contact reporter Dale Quinn at 629-9412 or dquinn@azstarnet.com.