An Idaho man who struck and killed the Australian satirist Leslie Nassar with his truck will be sentenced in May after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of a crash.
The Idaho Press-Tribune reported that 20-year-old Tristian Myers pleaded guilty last week over the death of Nassar last October. Nassar died while walking with his daughters in the small south-western Idaho city of Nampa.
Police said Myers had left the scene and later called to report a hit and run, then had confessed when interviewed.
Nassar, 43, had been living in Nampa with his family. Before moving part of his work to the US he created the satirical Department of Australia meme for Crikey, initiated Q&A’s onscreen Twitter stream and helped set up ABC Radio National’s podcasting empire.
After Nassar’s death the executive producer of Q&A, Peter McEvoy, described him as “one of the smartest people I ever worked with”. The co-founder of his consultancy Wrangling Cats, Andrea Horton, called him “a passionate and creative genius”.
Nassar’s daughters, aged three and eight, suffered minor injuries in the crash.
