Massage student switched seats before fatal spa crash

Jim Walsh | The Arizona Republic

GILBERT, Ariz. -- It seemed like such an innocent decision, the sort of thing that would easily be overlooked in a classroom full of students paying attention to the instructor.

But Lacey Gruntorad's decision to change seats with another student during a break proved fatal. She was hoping the instructor would demonstrate massage-therapy techniques on her later in the class, according to a Gilbert police report.

Gruntorad, 22, and everyone else in the session at Spa Pima on Sept. 27 could not have possibly envisioned that a woman in her mid-80s would lose control of her car that morning, confusing the gas pedal with the brake, and that her car would race into the classroom.

Gruntorad, seated near the front of the classroom, suffered massive injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene after she was struck by the white 2002 Infiniti luxury sedan. Another student suffered back and leg injuries, while instructor Melinda Keeling suffered a broken arm. Keeling told police that her stomach turned when she realized that Gruntorad had been killed, according to the report.

Keeling told police she was unable to find Gruntorad during the collision's chaotic aftermath, during which students rushed to each other's aid. "It dawned on her where Lacey was sitting was directly in front of where the car came in (to the classroom). (Keeling) said she started to get sick at the time," the report said.

The student who switched seats with Lacey suffered superficial injuries to his elbow and knee, the report said. He called 911 after the collision and yelled at the driver to turn the car off. The student declined to speak with an Arizona Republic reporter after the traumatic incident.

Police said the driver also was a victim, but in a much different way from Gruntorad and others in the classroom.

The driver was consumed by anguish and made suicidal statements immediately after the collision. "She repeated several times that she was thinking of that poor young person being gone now because of her."

The driver declined comment when a reporter visited her home.

Police called the woman's adult daughter, who lives in Gilbert, to the scene to console the driver and eventually take her home to the retirement community where she lives.

The driver "asked God for help," the report said, adding that "she did not know how she was going to live since some parents lost a child because of her."

The driver added that she regretted driving. She told police that she was taking a friend who had suffered a stroke shopping, and the two had stopped at a nearby bank so the friend could use the ATM. The driver also was going to pick up her cholesterol medication.

Gilbert police Sgt. Bill Balafas said investigators concluded there was not sufficient evidence to prove the accident was reckless, negligent or intentional. They decided it would be unwise and unjustified to seek criminal charges.

"It's a horrible and sad series of events. It's just a few seconds from when it started to when it ended," Balafas said. "Whether you charge someone or not, you still have a person who has left this Earth."