Charges recommended in Fort Mojave crash

FORT MOJAVE, Ariz -- The Fort Mojave Tribal Police Department is recommending drunken driving and homicide-related charges for the survivor of a Jan. 26 traffic accident that claimed the life of a popular high school teacher in western Arizona.

Sgt. Sonny O'Hara said laboratory analysis indicated that Robert Day, 32, was legally intoxicated when he crashed his kit car at 1:55 a.m. on the reservation south of Bullhead City.

Day's passenger, Valerie Palermo, 28, of Mohave Valley, later died at University Medical Center in Las Vegas. Palermo taught math at Mohave High School in Bullhead City.

The Mohave County Attorney's Office is reviewing the blood alcohol analysis and accident investigation and the police recommendation that Day be charged in the case.