One year after a homeless cyclist died, Sacramento police arrest man in hit-and-run accident

A man accused of fatally striking a bicyclist in a vehicle crash in the Railyards area of ​​downtown last year and then driving away was arrested Thursday. Sacramento police announced this on Friday.

A caller reported the collision just before 5:40 a.m. on August 17, 2023, on Railyards Boulevard between Bercut Drive and Fifth Street, in which a man on a bicycle was struck by a car, police said.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene. He was identified by the Sacramento County Coroner's Office as Brandon Waite, 40. The coroner's office's motor vehicle death website listed Waite as homeless.

The suspect was arrested on suspicion of hit-and-run resulting in death or permanent injury, arson and false reporting of a crime.

He is also charged with two misdemeanors in connection with another case, according to online jail records.

The suspect, who is being held at the Sacramento County Main Jail on $80,000 bail, is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.