A former Tucson resident has been sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years probation for his role in a ghastly car crash that left a severed arm laying in the backseat of his SUV. An arm that the police later found in a dumpster after the driver threw it out and called 911 to report his car stolen. Full story below.

Here’s a another (gruesome) little story that seems to have slipped under the local radar screen. And once again, it involves the Old Pueblo. Yes, a former Tucson resident and Army soldier has been convicted of leaving the scene of a car crash in which a fellow enlisted man lost his arm. Oh, and the guilty man was also convicted of tampering with evidence after throwing the arm in a trash bin … after he found in his backseat the next morning.

According to the Arizona Daily Star, “on Sept. 14, 2009, Joseph Maverick, 27, agreed to give a ride to two acquaintances he ran into at Club Congress after their designated driver left them.” Unfortunately, this good deed quickly turned ugly as Maverick and his new car-mates, US Air Force members, Aaron Soetaert and Scott Michaels, started arguing before they even started driving. According to prosecutors, Michaels was already in the backseat and wrestling with the driver, while Soetaert was trying to get into the other side of Maverick’s sports utility vehicle. That’s when Maverick stepped on the gas and raced down an alley, clipping either a tree or a pole along the way. Eventually, Maverick and Michaels stopped fighting long enough for the driver to kick him out of the car and drive home safely.

Unfortunately, Soetaert, “who had been clinging to the outside of the SUV, lost his right arm just below the shoulder, suffered a traumatic brain injury, fractured an ankle and severely injured a knee,” the AZDS reports. Even more horrifying, “instead of reporting the wreck, Maverick called 911 to report his vehicle stolen and when he found the arm in his backseat later that morning, he threw it away.”

Maverick, who admitted to lying about having his vehicle stolen, as well as throwing the severed arm away but testified that he didn’t realize Soetaert
was injured, is facing possible prison time and will be sentenced Dec. 6 by Pima County Superior Court Judge Deborah Bernini.

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