Witness: Duckboat victim, looking at tablet, walked against red light

The visitor who was run over and killed by a Ride the Ducks vehicle Friday in Chinatown has been identified as Elizabeth Karnicki, 68, of Beaumont, Texas, police said.

Police also said a witness reported seeing the victim walking while looking at an electronic tablet and crossing the street against a red light just before she was hit.

The duck boat - an amphibious boat and street vehicle - was westbound on Arch Street toward the busy intersection at 11th Street about 5:20 p.m. when it struck Karnicki. The driver of the sightseeing vehicle had a green light.

Police have said the driver, 72, was not likely to be charged.

The woman's husband was reportedly several feet ahead of her when she was hit.

"The husband heard her scream, turned around, and saw that his wife had been struck," said Chief Inspector Scott Small, who was in charge of the accident scene Friday.

Maurice Williams, who was at the scene Friday, said the victim's husband was wearing a wristband for Comic Con, a large Convention Center event that runs through Sunday.

Police officers said the duck boat driver said he could not see the woman. In the duck boats, the driver sits high and behind the front.

The victim was pulled under the vehicle. She suffered severe head and body trauma and was pronounced dead at the scene at 5:27 p.m.

Twenty-eight passengers, including children, plus the driver and a tour guide were on the duck boat at the time of the accident. Small said police interviewed all the passengers.

In 2010, two tourists from Hungary, Dora Schwendtner, 16, and Szabolcs Prem, 20, were killed on a duck boat that capsized on the Delaware River after a tugboat pushed a barge into it.

Their parents received a combined $15 million from Ride the Ducks and the tugboat company, K-Sea Transportation Partners. The tugboat operator was on his cellphone dealing with a family emergency when the crash happened; he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to a year in prison.