Student Killed by Drunken Driver

Tyler Brown, a Duke engineering student, was killed in San Francisco October 9 when the taxicab in which he was riding was hit by a pickup truck. The driver of the pickup has been charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter and one count of felony drunken driving.

Brown, a senior in the Pratt School of Engineering, was one of five students affiliated with Engineers Without Borders who went to Banda Aceh on the Indonesian island of Sumatra in August to help rebuild shrimp hatcheries that people from the nearby village of Lamnga relied upon for subsistence.

Brown and the taxi driver were both killed instantly. Michael Giedgowd, a Trinity senior who was riding in the back seat of the taxi, suffered a broken leg and a hip fracture. Brown's half-brother, also a passenger in the taxi, suffered cuts and bruises.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the driver of the Toyota truck that slammed into the taxicab had been involved in a minor hit-and-run shortly before the fatal accident.