Turns Out The ‘Pokémon Go’ Hit & Run Victim Wasn’t Even Using Her Phone

By now, you might have heard about the devastating death of 22-year-old Sydney woman Tanami Nayler, who was killed in a ‘hit and run’ by a stolen car in Melbourne over the weekend.

The young woman was using a pedestrian crossing in West Melbourne at around 2:15am on Friday night/Saturday morning, when a Corolla stolen from a nearby rental depot hit her and dragged her at least 70 metres. It has been reported that the car was doing 100km/h in a 60km/h zone. 
The driver, 21-year-old Nicholas Davison, ran away from the scene but was later found and charged with culpable driving, dangerous driving, fail to stop at the scene of an accident, fail to render assistance, burglary and theft.
The story of Nayler’s death has been widely reported in relation to the fact that the young woman had been playing ‘Pokémon Go’, with headlines boldly proclaiming ‘Pokemon Go death’ (Sunshine Coast Daily), ‘Sydney woman died after playing Pokemon GO following -hit-and-run’ (Daily Mail) and ‘Woman in Melbourne allegedly playing Pokemon Go dead after hit by stolen car and dragged 70 metres’ (International Business Times). 
Some headlines implied and led many to believe that if Nayler hadn’t been focussing on the mobile game, she could have avoided the incident.
They were misleading – Nayler‘s tragic death had nothing to do with her playing ‘Pokémon Go‘, despite original police statements, and none of the onus should be placed on the young woman. In fact, she wasn’t even holding her phone at the time. 
It’s been confirmed that she had previously been playing it that night, but her phone was in her pocket when she was hit by the car. 
Her cousin gave a statement, saying, 

“It’s one of those senseless things, you can’t predict something like that.”
Tanami’s friends and family have paid tribute to the young woman on social media, stating that she was ‘perfect’ and ‘very loved’:
Source: Newscorp.
Photo: Facebook. 

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