Year of home confinement for elderly driver in bicyclist’s death

BEN DORGER, Standard-Examiner file photo
The 2nd District Court is seen on Friday, Nov. 15, 2019, in downtown Ogden.OGDEN — A 78-year-old Clinton woman is serving one year of home confinement for her negligent homicide conviction in the death of a Roy bicyclist.
Gloria Parker Palmer was charged in January by the Weber County Attorney’s Office in the Sept. 20, 2021, incident. Charging documents said Palmer ran over 62-year-old Warren Watanabe three times.
Palmer pleaded guilty to the class A misdemeanor on Feb. 23 and was sentenced by 2nd District Judge Cristina Ortega, who sentenced her to a year in the Weber County Jail but suspended it in lieu of probation and home confinement.
The judge put Palmer on probation for 24 months, to be supervised by the district court. Palmer was told to surrender her driver’s license, and Ortega said she will be allowed out of home confinement only for medical appointments or religious services.
Ortega has scheduled a restitution hearing June 22 to determine how much Palmer will be required to pay Watanabe’s estate.
Charging documents said Roy police reviewed surveillance video and determined that Palmer was pulling out of a parking lot and struck Watanabe, who was riding his bicycle on a sidewalk southbound in the 5500 South block of 3500 West at 8:22 a.m.
Police said the video showed Palmer stopped momentarily, then drove forward and hit Watanabe’s bicycle. She then backed up and tried to drive around the bicycle but ran over the bicyclist, who was lying on the pavement. She then backed over him, police said. She got out of the car, saw Watanabe and called 911.
The final movement of the car caused Watanabe extensive injuries, including 14 broken ribs, liver and kidney damage, and internal bleeding, charging documents said. He died five days later at a local hospital.
Police said Palmer was not aware of what she had hit.