Friends of fallen cyclist find hit-and-run driver

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You can't say that the friends of a Hawaiian bicyclist who was struck and killed by a hit-and-run motorist took the law into their own hands, but they did help police with their investigation.

Zachary Manago, a Hawaii Pacific University student, had joined a Friday night group ride with 30 or 40 other cyclists who were on their way to watch the sunrise at a beach on Oahu.

As they pedaled their bicycles along Kamehameha Highway shortly before midnight, someone driving an SUV struck the 18-year-old from behind on the shoulder and then sped away. Manago was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

RIP

His friends were devastated, many posting remembrances on the internet, such as this one with a photo at Jun Jo's blog on Hypebeast…

“SAD NEWS LAST NIGHT…THE WORLD LOST A PERSON THAT THEY WOULD HAVE AND SHOULD HAVE KNOWN.. A GOOD GUY MAGNETIC PERSONALITY JUST PLAIN RAD … RIP ZACHARY.”

Then police announced on Monday that they had arrested a suspect in the crash and had recovered a damaged SUV. When a reporter for the Honolulu Star Advertiser contacted family members, she learned from an aunt that, “The father said Zach's friends went looking for the SUV, and they found it.”

HawaiiNewsNow.com later reported that Manago's friends fanned out over the area near the crash and spotted a damaged white Saturn SUV parked in a townhouse complex.

Felony charges

The immediate family was too distraught to talk to the reporter about the arrest, but an uncle said:

“I'm just really more worried about our family. I'm sure that person—I kind of feel sorry for him, too, because his life has changed, too.”

The suspect is a 25-year-old from Mililani. The newspaper says the man was arrested on suspicion of first-degree negligent homicide and fleeing the scene of an accident. The Class B felonies each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years.

The death of Manago is a terrible tragedy; let's hope that his friends' efforts to find the driver result in justice.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/12/21/friends-of-fallen-cyclist-find-hit-and-run-driver/

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