Seattle Police arrest driver in fatal hit and run of bicyclist

Seattle Police have made an arrest in the July 2011 fatal
hit and run of a bicyclist in South Lake Union.

Few details were released during a news conference
Thursday, at which police announced the arrest of Erlin
Garcia Reyes, 28, of Normandy Park.

Police believe Reyes was the driver of an SUV that fatally
struck and killed 44-year-old Michael Wang on July 28. The
SUV hit Wang as the driver made a left turn on Dexter Ave.
North. The suspect fled the scene.

Wang, a married father of two, was an avid bicyclist and
photographer for PATH, a global health non-profit. He had
commuted by bike from South Lake Union to his home in
Shoreline and back for years.

“Late July, when we got word of Mike Wang’s death, it hit
our community hard. All of us were deeply shaken,” said
Chuck Ayers with Cascade Bicycle Club, of which Wang was a
member.

Ayers said Wang was 100-percenter, which meant he had rode
to work every day the month he was killed.

The Seattle’s Police Department Traffic Collision
Investigation Squad would not say Thursday what led them
to Reyes, who had not been interviewed by police prior to
Wednesday.

He was booked into the King County Jail for felony hit and
run.