IRVINE : Tustin Man Arrested in Death of Bicyclist
A Tustin man was arrested early Sunday on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and felony drunken driving in the death of a bicyclist near the UC Irvine campus.
Manuel Gutierrez, 26, was arrested a short time after the hit-and-run accident.
Police said Gutierrez apparently had gone to the home of his former wife at the Stanford Court Apartments less than a mile from where the bicyclist was killed at Campus and University drives.
Officers subsequently were called to a domestic dispute at the apartment. There they found Gutierrez’s 1988 Suzuki Samurai and evidence linking it to the hit-and-run, police said.
The bicyclist, Reiber Davila, 29, was heading east on Campus Drive just after midnight when he was struck from behind.
Davila, who was riding without lights or a helmet, according to police, was pronounced dead half an hour later at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana. He suffered major head injuries.
Gutierrez was being held on $25,000 bail.
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