Judge convicts North Liberty teen of failing to yield in fatal crash

IOWA CITY — A magistrate concluded Tuesday, following last month’s non jury trial, that a North Liberty teen driving a sport utility vehicle on May 22 failed to yield to a pedestrian — a jogger — who he struck in a marked crosswalk on Melrose Avenue and Kennedy Parkway in Iowa City.

Sixth Judicial District Magistrate Mark Neary ruled Jonathan J.F. McCaffery, 16, at the time, “did not comply with the common law requirements under the circumstances.” McCaffery approached the pedestrian crosswalk at a little over the speed limit, according to what McCaffery told a police officer. At the scene, McCaffery said he was driving at “full speed.”

McCaffery, now 17, is cited for failure to yield to a pedestrian in the right of way, a simple misdemeanor. McCaffery goes by the name of Jack and is the son of the University of Iowa men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery. He waived his personal appearance at the trial.

Neary, in the ruling, said there is no evidence, according to police, that the teen was speeding, driving in a reckless manner, that he was distracted while driving or using his cellphone, or that he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

However, there were two warning signs advising drivers of the pedestrian crosswalk at that intersection, as Kent Rolston, transportation planner for the city of Iowa City, testified at trial. McCaffery also said he was familiar with the intersection as he had driven it in that area several times.

During last month’s trial, witnesses also testified they saw McCaffery’s 2022 Hyundai Santa Fe hit a jogger — “flipping him up in the air,” one said — as the jogger ran across a marked crosswalk.

Three witnesses said McCaffery didn’t slow down until the vehicle hit Corey Hite, 45, of Cedar Rapids.

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Neary, in the ruling, noted there were vehicles stopped in the right lane while approaching the crosswalk, which McCaffery thought were turning right. He recalled seeing a mail truck with one vehicle in front of it and one behind it. Neary said McCaffery’s view in front of the stopped vehicles was blocked, and Hite wasn’t visible to McCaffery until Hite “appeared in front of the line of stopped vehicles.”

“The court finds that Mr. McCaffery could not stop or avoid striking Mr. Hite once he appeared in Mr. McCaffery’s lane of the roadway,” Neary said in the ruling. “However, the court does not find any evidence that Mr. Hite engaged in any affirmative act to relinquish his right of way within the crosswalk.”

Neary ruled that a reasonable person approaching a marked pedestrian crosswalk with an obstructed view of part of the crosswalk should have slowed down or stopped to make sure there were no pedestrians in the traffic lane.

While it was reasonable for McCaffery to assume the vehicles were stopped to make a right-hand turn, that wasn’t the only possible reason why vehicles were stopped at a crosswalk, Neary said.

“Mr. McCaffery’s failure to approach the crosswalk in such a way to be able to avoid any contact with a pedestrian lawfully within the crosswalk, indicates that Mr. McCaffery failed to meet the requirements of a reasonable driver in such a situation,” according to the ruling.

McCaffery is guilty of failure to yield to pedestrian’s right of way in violation of Iowa Code Section 321.327. Hite was struck about 4:15 p.m. on May 22. Hite, an Iowa National Guard soldier, later died from his injuries.

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Under Iowa law, there is an enhancement for this misdemeanor when it results in a death, which includes a $1,000 fine, a driver's license suspension of up to 180 days or both, according to police.

Neary set sentencing for Oct. 13 in Johnson County.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com