Bicyclist killed in hit-and-run in Chandler; police find suspect
Jun 9, 2021, 6:11 AM | Updated: Jun 10, 2021, 7:40 am
Ryan Sean Pereira (Photo via Chandler Police Department)
(Photo via Chandler Police Department)
PHOENIX – Police in Chandler said a driver suspected of fatally hitting a bicyclist then fleeing the scene early Wednesday has been taken into custody.
Sgt. Jason McClimans said the bicyclist was struck at Alma School Road and Galveston Street around 2:30 a.m. When the officers sent to the scene arrived, they found 43-year-old Joseph Theodore Kowalczyk lying in the street.
He was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Investigators determined the vehicle collided with the cyclist, didn’t stop and headed north on Alma School Road.
Police said they believed whatever kind of vehicle hit the bicyclist would have front-end damage.
They found a Dodge Ram with similar damage at an apartment complex a mile away from the collision.
Police learned that the vehicle’s owner was 48-year-old Ryan Sean Pereira, a resident at the complex.
Pereira was booked on a felony charge of failure to stop for an accident involving death or physical injury.
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