Austin husband suing city after wife killed in crosswalk

After the morning of September 1, all Moises Maradiaga is left with, are memories of his wife Rosemary.

“She would take care of my kids. She loved me, it’s was a very big job,” said Maradiaga.

The wife and mother of four parked at her job, Idea Bluff Springs School. She used the non-working crosswalk and walked her daughter across the street to a bus stop.

“Then she walks back across the street to go back to work at idea public schools and it was as she was walking back to the school, when she got struck by the vehicle,” said Brad Bonilla, the family’s attorney.

According to DPS, when a car was making a left turn onto slaughter, it stopped to let Maradiaga walk by. However, a Toyota Prius was driving westbound on slaughter, with the other car blocking its view, and the red light signal not working, the driver of the Prius ran over her.

“She had a lot of loved ones and a lot of friends who were in shock and they now know that because of that light, that was her tragedy,” said Maradiaga.

Maradiaga filed a wrongful death lawsuit Wednesday. IDEA released this statement in part, the morning of the accident that reads....
            "The city of Austin and Travis County have been in constant communication with members of our team and for a multitude of reasons the light continues to not be functional."-Idea Public Schools.

Right after the accident, at the direction of Travis County, Austin Energy says they turned on the signal lights.

“The City of Austin's blaming Travis County, Travis County's blaming the city of Austin. We know Austin Energy went out and flipped the switch to turn it on,” said Bonilla.

This mother's life was cut short...but her husband hopes something positive can come out of this tragedy.

“To make sure there are no other families, other people who suffer,” said Maradiaga.

“How was there such a failure in the government bureaucracy that led to this traffic signal not being operated?” said Bonilla.