I have to apologize to Dave Burge for totally ripping off his tweet but it was just too good to pass up:

Homeless Junkie Killed Jumping In Front of Robot Car Carrying Trans Armed Robber is the most 2018 story everhttps://t.co/Q17FeL5JbL

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) March 20, 2018

The story, of course, is about the unfortunate accident over the weekend in Tempe, Arizona in which an autonomous Uber car with a “safety driver” ran down a pedestrian. As Dave Burge says, this has become the most 2018 story you can imagine.

Victim: Elaine Herzberg, 49, was homeless and had a string of drugs convictions when she was killed walking in front of the Uber self-driving car on Sunday night

Felon: Rafaela Vasquez, who was then known as Rafael, has two felony convictions of which she was found guilty when she identified as a man. Vasquez was sentenced to five years in prison for attempted armed robbery in January 2000, and given a one-year concurrent sentence for making a false statement. It is unclear when Vasquez began identifying as female.

The statement by Vasquez, substantiated by the on-board cameras on the autonomous car, show Herzberg just walked in front of the car.

She told police that Herzberg, who had herself spent time in prison for drug offenses, stepped out in front of her with a bicycle carrying multiple shopping bags and that she had no time to brake before it hit her.

She was traveling at 40 mph at the time, well within the 45 mph speed limit and insisted that she was alert but that nothing could have been done to stop the crash.

Her story was supported by footage from cameras fitted at the front and back of the Volvo SUV that Vasquez was in control of. Police have not yet revealed that footage.

At first, police wrongly described Vasquez as a man.

‘The driver said it was like a flash, the person walked out in front of them,’

I got nothing to add to this.