From Danville PD:
At 5:30p.m. Monday afternoon, Danville Police arrested an 83-year-old San Ramon resident in connection with the Saturday hit and run incidents on Diablo Road.
Police Chief Allan Shields stated that following up on investigative leads resulted in the arrest of Daniel Brennan, 83, of San Ramon for three counts of felony hit and run. He was released pending the completion of the investigation.
Detectives found the 2006 Ford Escape during a canvass of the Hidden Oaks at Blackhawk neighborhood. The vehicle was located in the driveway of a home listed to one of Brennan’s relatives, and was determined to have damage consistent with the collisions. Police impounded the Ford Escape for testing as part of the ongoing investigation.
Chief Shields said the first incident occurred on Saturday, October 21st at approximately 1:20 p.m. The victim reported that she was riding her bicycle westbound on Diablo Road near Avenida Nueva when she was struck by the vehicle, which then fled the scene. The victim suffered minor injuries and did not require hospitalization.
The second incident occurred on Saturday, October 21st at approximately 2 p.m. when two cyclists riding eastbound on Diablo Road near Clydesdale Drive were struck by a driver who fled. The two men suffered severe injuries in the crash and were hospitalized. One man was taken by CalStar helicopter to Eden Medical Center and suffered two spinal fractures. The other was transported by ambulance to John Muir Medical Center suffering from a high humerus fracture, concussion, and an intracranial hematoma.
Gee, here we were all thinking it was some crazy person or drunk who did this. In reality it might have then just impaired driving skills. Who knows maybe he didn’t even know that he hit them.
Prayers for the recovery of the people he hit. Did he know he hit people????
This is very sad.
Don’t know if this makes me mad or sad.
I wondered what critical injuries were. Now I know. Ouch. Hope the people injured in this recover.
Without naming the business does he own a business in town?
If not deliberate he was not in control of his vehicle when he hit these people. He stopped and looked back at them as they lay in the road —- and then he drove away. Felony chrges sound in order.
Time enough to get a lawyer. Did the relative inform police when Brennan pulled into the driveway with damage to the car?
I won’t ride on roads where cars are allowed and this is why.
Were they hit from behind or head on?
Horrendous injuries. The initial cyclist sounds lucky. Thinking about those still in the hospital.
How awful. He stopped to look before driving away?
Sigh.
I can’t count number of times I have almost been hit while riding on local roads.
Occurred on Saturday. In custody by Mondy. Nice job by Danville police.
I hope that the men are able to recover fully and that justice finds its way here.
I hate to say this BUT sometimes people just get too old to be allowed to drive. Yeah it takes away from their self-worth feeling I suppose. So why not have them test every 1-2 years ON THE ROAD when a certain age is hit?. Not just a written exam.
I’m sure when I’m 80 I’ll dislike this. But it’s all about safety. We bicyclist’s who road ride are stuck w/ sharing the road with much heavier & therefore easily lethal cars/trucks. So it only makes sense that such drivers, when they start losing their quick reflexes & other quick awareness abilities, should be either limited in driving or if determined to be dangerous, the have their driving ‘privilege’ taken away? Thoughts?
I ride that stretch all the time and have had a few close calls. At this point we don’t know if this man was just not in control of his car or angry at being held up on the road. That two groups of riders were struck strikes me as more than coincidence. Or did he hit anything else? I’m also interested in how the relative reacted to what had to be obvious damage to the car when he arrived. Was any attempt made to notify police?
This is horrible and while I so very sad to hear that cyclists had ONCE AGAIN been injured by someone in a car I would ask if the arrested person was able to drive. If not, it’s terrifying he’s on the road with others. My personal opinion is that some back road or area like the concord weapons area or camp parks be opened to bicyclists so they can ride without fear. We seem incapable of sharing the roads we have.
Just as we have determined that people can be too young to drive, it may be time to ask if people can be too old to drive. With our population aging, it’s a reasonable question to, at least, explore.
@Tom – It is reasonable, Tom, though we hated to see the light in our own elder’s eyes go out when he handed over his car keys.
A very sad situation, with boomers aging and watching their elders hold on to one of their last freedoms, giving up mobility is a tramatic but necessary life event.
Legislation will be required to keep our roads safe unless we as families step in and pull the plug on our elders driving and that will take considerable courage…..good luck to all.
@R.E. – Extremely difficult and potentially sad situation as you say, R.E. One we have encountered and dealt with personally. Frankly, glad we took the steps we took. Thanks for writing!