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Thornton police seized the cellphone of Michael J. Grennan, 33, Saturday after an accident on East 168th Avenue where two pedestrians were killed and a teen-age boy seriously injured. The trio were walking along the dirt shoulder of the 3500 block of East 168th Avenue when they were hit. Initial reports said Grennan was on the cellphone, although police have yet to determine what caused the crash. . Grennan could face a misdemeanor charge of careless driving resulting in death.

This was precisely the scenario that Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, contemplated when she proposed a bill in 2009 that would have required drivers to use hands-free devices when talking on cellphones. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, was the chief critic of her bill. The cellphone portion was removed from Levy's bill, which did ban text-messaging while driving. See Tickets for Texting.

Levy said yesterday that she won't seek a late bill banning the use of mobile devices while driving, but said that the pedestrian deaths over the weekend demonstrated why the ban is needed. Ironically, to do so she would need the permission of Speaker Frank McNulty.

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