Why didn’t the Uber driver call the police? That’s the question the family of Dustin Dilks is struggling with following the death of the 27-year-old. Dilks was struck by a vehicle and killed while walking on the Beltline in the early hours of Nov. 21. Police have yet to release a report on the incident. But details from the preliminary investigation were shared with Dilks’ family, who spoke to Isthmus.

“As a family, our goal is to try to prevent this from happening to anyone else,” says Christina Bishop, the cousin of Dilks, who grew up with him and considers him a brother. “It is a very difficult time for us especially considering that it's possible this tragedy could have been prevented.”

Dustin Dilks had been out with friends in Middleton before heading home on Nov. 21. He had been drinking so he used Uber to find a safe ride home. Dilks was with an acquaintance who was severely intoxicated and acting cruel, says Bishop. Dilks’ companion was a “friend of a friend” whom he didn’t know very well.

“The guy that Dustin was with was being very drunk and obnoxious,” Bishop says police told her, based on what the driver told officers. “He was being belligerent and saying some not very nice things to Dustin. Dustin wasn’t really responding to this guy. Then the Uber driver heard someone say they were going to be sick.”

The Uber driver pulled over to the side of the eastbound Beltline somewhere between the University Avenue and Gammon Road exits. Dilks stepped out of the vehicle. After failing to coax him back inside the car, the driver left him on the side of the highway. According to what police told the family, the driver never exited the vehicle.

“The investigating officer said to us, ‘I wanted to let you know that the entire time [the Uber driver] was being interviewed I kept thinking why didn't you call the police,” recalls Bishop. “It doesn’t sound like it was an argument. Seems like Dustin was just fed up. It surprised us that he got out of the car on the Beltline. But it didn’t surprise us that he just walked away from an uncomfortable situation. Dustin was not someone who could be rattled easily.”

Approximately 20 minutes later, Dilks was struck and killed by another vehicle while walking on the highway. Madison police spokesperson Joel Despain says Dilks was hit by more than one vehicle.

“Dustin was on the Beltline for a minimum of 15 minutes before he was hit. He was sending texts and made tons of phone calls in that time period," Bishop says. "The last phone call he made was at 2:17, the same time the first 911 call came in.”

The Uber driver, who has not been identified, is 22 years old.

“She had been driving Uber for about a month,” says Bishop. “She was just doing it for extra cash to pay for school or something.”

The city of Madison passed an ordinance in March 2015 regulating app-ride services under its taxicab ordinance. But the following month, state legislators preempted that local regulation, giving transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft a green light to operate in Wisconsin. Dane County lawmakers urged Gov. Scott Walker to veto the legislation arguing it provided minimal oversight and usurped local control.

Mayor Paul Soglin says what happened on the Beltline underscores the need to regulate services that provide rides to the general public.

“It’s an example of why we believe there has to be a certain level of training and supervision for people who drive for hire,” says Soglin. “There is not one way the city could have regulated that situation after the state preempted us two years ago.”

Paul Bittorf, business manager at Union Cab Cooperative based in Madison, says its drivers are given 24 hours of on the job training before hitting the road on their own. The taxi company’s insurance also requires drivers to be 25 years or older.

“If you can’t verify that a driver can do the job and do it safely, that’s a huge issue. Not just anyone is a good fit for the job,” says Bittorf. “If you don’t give them any training at all, I can’t imagine what that’s like.”

Like other taxi companies in town, Union cab drivers are in constant contact with a central dispatcher. Bittorf says even experienced drivers rely on dispatch in threatening or compromising situations.

“One thing I wondered about when Uber first came around is how they will deal with people throwing up in cars. It happens. Especially late at night when people have been drinking. I wouldn’t put my car through what a taxi cab goes through,” says Bittorf. “We train our drivers that in any situation, the priority when pulling over has to be the safety of the passengers.”

It is not illegal to pull over on the Beltline, according to Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney. However, law enforcement doesn’t encourage it. Pedestrians and bicyclists are prohibited from being on the Beltline at all times. In a statement to the media, investigators wrote “there is no criminal culpability in this case.”

The family of Dustin Dilks plans on pursuing legislation that requires hired drivers to notify police if a passenger is let out on a controlled access highway like the Beltline.

“If you hire someone to drive you somewhere — for whatever reason — [and a passenger] gets out of the car on a road where pedestrians are prohibited, such as the Beltline, that driver should be legally required to call the police,” said Bishop. “If the Uber driver had called the police, there is a very high likelihood that Dustin would be alive today.”

Bishop also thinks Uber’s requirement that a driver be 21 years of age is too young.

“Going back to my 22-year-old self, I almost wonder if she was afraid to call police because she thought she might get him in trouble. I don’t think we’ll ever know but I’m trying to understand from her point of view, why she didn’t call the police,” said Bishop. “If you have to be 25 to rent a car. I don’t see why you don’t have to be 25 to drive people around.”

Uber did not respond to a request for comment.

Editor's note: This article has been edited to clarify the attribution for a quote.