Patricia "Patty" Criner, 25

 

A beloved sister remembers

The year: 1974.
Officer responding to a burglar alarm at a mall.

Patty on her way home from work.

Linda Criner shares her love for sister Patty in these family pictures and newspaper clippings.

About Patty
Bethesda, MD—Patty's dad, Alvin Criner Jr., shared with a reporter that his daughter graduated with honors in 1970 from the University of Maryland and worked as a nutritionist for the U.S. Agricultural Research Service. She planned to return to school to study biochemistry.

The year: 1974
Officer responding to a burglar alarm at a mall. Patty on her way home from work.

 

The Result

E-mail dated Nov. 16, 2013

Thank you for the links you provided for Frances Martin and Steven Ehrensperger. They brought tears to my eyes. Young and vibrant, they had their whole lives ahead of them. For my parents and me, we were and are the walking wounded or worse.

I know it's a violent universe, and we are not born with a guarantee. I just can't get over how senseless these deaths are. And how preventable. And it's still going on. That's what is even more unreal. It's 2013 and the police haven't changed the way they do business. I have to conclude that they just don't care how many people they injure and slaughter on the roads, including their own.

Here are additional photos and documents of my sister and the circumstances of her death. I can't focus on this for too long, or I go to a place that is all too familiar and unpleasant. 

Sincerely,
Linda Criner
Patty's Sister

Click on newspaper for larger image

Siren Factors
Only 24% of drivers can hear and determine from which direction a police car and its siren are traveling. (ALERT International Conference, September 2008.)In the case of excessive speeds, some drivers won't hear the siren at all because they are just behind or catching up to the sound.

"Innocent third-party drivers who do hear the siren have no time to react." —Ret. Police Chief D.P. Van Blaricom, Bellevue, WA