Family ‘very happy’ to hear about arrests nearly two years after street racing crash killed Portland woman
By Audrey Weil
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PORTLAND, Oregon (KPTV) — Portland police arrested two people nearly two years after a woman was hit and killed in a street racing crash.
58-year-old Joann Mardis was on her way to work near her house on Northeast 122nd Avenue, in July 2020, when the speeding drivers crashed into her; she later died from her injuries at the hospital.
“We are cautiously optimistic and very happy to hear at least they were arrested,” her daughter Alexandria Doyal said.
She said her mom was caring and generous, a loving grandma and made any get-together a party.
“She had a laugh that you could hear from anywhere. I’m pretty sure people in China could hear my mom’s laugh. She was very loud, it was very intense, and it was infectious,” Doyal said.
The nearly two years since her death have been incredibly difficult for her family, now hoping for some justice, after police arrested 32-year-old Vladimir Pavlov and 20-year-old McKinley James Faria for second-degree manslaughter and negligent homicide.
“My hope as this process unfolds is that these two men recognize their reckless driving cost my mom her life and my family dearly,” Mardis’ son Justin Wiley said.
He said we should all realize the potential consequences of our actions behind the wheel.
“If you drink and drive, if you regularly speed, if you run through red lights or stop signs, if you text and drive, you haven’t killed anyone yet but that’s not because you’re a great driver, it’s because you’ve been really lucky,” Wiley said.
He and Doyal said this is a reminder that the pain of poor decisions is not worth the risk.
“I am sure that they didn’t leave their homes that morning expecting to kill somebody. I’m sure they didn’t leave their home expecting to get in an accident but they did because they made a decision, they made a choice,” Doyal said.
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