Jurors Hear Evidence in Bishop’s Hit-Run Trial

Bishop Thomas O’Brien slammed into a pedestrian with his car last summer and sped off without stopping, a prosecutor told jurors at the start of the clergyman’s hit-and-run trial.

The prosecutor said fibers from the victim’s shirt were found embedded in O’Brien’s smashed-in windshield. The victim’s hair, tissue and blood were also found on the car, he said.

A defense attorney said O’Brien, the former head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, did not see the pedestrian and had no idea the man had been fatally injured. O’Brien told police he did not realize he had hit a person.