Man arrested after SC hit-and-run accident that killed cyclist

Police arrested a 29-year-old South Carolina man in connection with a Feb. 26 hit-and-run accident in Charleston that resulted in the death of a bicyclist. Authorities believe that the accused man was drunk at the time of the accident and have filed DUI charges against him.

The accident occurred just before 10 p.m. on the Stono Bridge. The bicyclist, a 30-year-old man, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. A coroner’s report listed the cause of death as blunt force trauma. The driver of the vehicle that struck him drove away from the scene. Police say that the 29-year-old man went to a friend’s house, where he described what happened. That friend then went to the scene of the accident and told police what that man had told him. Officers then went to the home of the driver’s friend to arrest the man.

Police booked the man into the Charleston County Detention Center just after 3 a.m. They charged him with a felony count of DUI, one count of reckless homicide and leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death. At a bond hearing on the afternoon of Feb. 27, a judge set the man’s bond at $100,000. Reports indicated that the man had a previous DUI charge on his record, for which he had paid a fine.

DUI charges by themselves do not result in compensation paid to the families of deceased victims. Family members who wish to seek damages for their loved ones’ deaths are often eligible to file wrongful death lawsuits against drunk drivers and in some cases the businesses that provided them with alcohol. Attorneys may be able to help victims’ families identify the parties responsible for their loved ones’ fatal accidents.

Source: WCSC, “Coroner identifies 30-year-old man killed in Stono Bridge hit-and-run,” Feb. 27, 2015