Friends and family members of Matthew "Tatsuo" Nakata are demanding justice as they learn that the driver who hit and killed the 29-year-old City Council aide last fall will not face a felony charge.

King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng decided March 7 that there was not enough evidence to convict Ephraim Schwartz of vehicular homicide. Schwartz, 35 at the time of the accident, was reportedly using his cellphone when he struck Nakata at a marked crosswalk at the 4700 block of Southwest Admiral Way on Nov. 14.

"It appears he (Schwartz) was not paying attention, but that alone is not enough for us to file a charge of vehicular homicide," said Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the prosecutor's office. A felony charge could have resulted if the driver were using drugs or alcohol or speeding at the time of the collision, but there is no evidence of any of that, Donohoe said.

Nakata died after sustaining massive head and leg injuries. Hundreds came to his memorial service, including the Seattle city councilman he worked for, David Della, and numerous other elected officials.

Nakata was considered a rising star in the Asian Pacific American community. Once the youngest president of the Japanese American Citizens League's Seattle chapter, he was informally being groomed for public office by some community leaders.

In recent days, a petition has been traveling the Asian Pacific American community calling for prosecution of the driver.

"It is unacceptable that an innocent pedestrian, clearly within an established crosswalk, can be run over and killed by a negligent driver who was on his cell phone and not paying attention to pedestrians in front of him and not be held criminally accountable," reads the petition, whose prime organizers include Nakata's brother, Joshua Nakata, from Honolulu, where Tatsuo Nakata was born.

Though felony charges won't be brought, there is a chance that the city attorney will take up the case. The prosecutor's office recommended the city attorney review it for a possible misdemeanor.

A spokesperson for the city attorney, Ruth Bowman, said that the case had not arrived in the office as (two weeks ago). Once it's in the possession of the city attorney, he has 20 days to make a decision.

The petition also points out that the spot where Nakata was struck has long been considered dangerous for pedestrians. Nearby residents and merchants have demanded a traffic light and other safety improvements at that busy five-way intersection for years. Petition supporters are calling for a citywide pedestrian-safety program that would include increased funding for safety assessments and other related research, as well as enhanced public education.

The petition also aims to change state criminal code so that it's a felony to kill a pedestrian crossing an established crosswalk, "without needing to prove that the driver was drunk, speeding or otherwise acting recklessly."

The signatures will be sent to Mayor Greg Nickels, City Attorney Tom Carr and all nine members of the City Council.

The City Council decided early this year that pedestrian safety would be its priority in 2007. To that end, it has passed the Pedestrian Safety Master Plan, which takes a three-pronged approach to making walking safer in Seattle. It aims to educate pedestrians as well as drivers about their rights and responsibilities, improve street engineering to make pedestrian paths safer, and strengthen and enforce pedestrian-safety laws at the local and statewide levels.

A special committee on pedestrian safety was also created to lead the council's new initiative.

"This is a multiyear strategy," Della said. By the end of the year, "we'll see some things happen, like increased education, some engineering safety fixes, including the one (intersection) Tatsuo was hit at. We'll see some progress, but not the total picture" at the end of 2007.

(Recently), Della traveled to Olympia to testify in support of two bills regarding pedestrian safety. One is called the Matthew "Tatsuo" Nakata Act, which adds to the driver's education core curriculum information on how to safely share the road with pedestrians and bicyclists. The bill is named for Nakata partly because he once worked for the state Legislature.

The other bill, if passed, would require drivers to use hands-free devices while using cell phones in the car.

Who knows if Nakata would have been spared had Schwartz not been on the phone, Della said.

"It's really hard to tell. (The cell phone) was a factor, but it's hard to tell if that was the key factor or not," said the councilman.

Nakata was Della's chief of staff for two years. He was on his way to work when he was struck.

"In terms of operations of the office, we're moving forward," said Della, who recently hired a new chief of staff, Dave Namura. "It's difficult because ... Tatsuo was close to not only our staff, but close to the staffs in other departments too. But we're turning our grief into resolve. ... We're not only remembering him, but making sure his cause of death does not occur over and over again."

For more information about the petition circulated by the Committee for Justice for Tatsuo Nakata, e-mail tatsuocommittee@yahoo.com.

Carol N. Vu is a reporter for the Northwest Asian Weekly and can be reached at 223-0623 or carol@nwasianweekly.com This story is reprinted with permission from Northwest Asian Weekly.