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James Steven Swarzman, a 47 year old competitive and recreational bicycle rider, was killed in a hit-and-run early last Sunday morning. He was on a training ride with two other bicyclists and, at near North Coast Highway 101 and Jason Street, was hit was hit from behind by a dark-colored pickup truck at about 1:00 am. Although he was air lifted to La Jolla Scripps Memorial Hospital, he was, according to the 10news.com article, pronounced dead three hours later.
It would be tempting to call this tragic event an accident, but authorities are investigating the possibility that Swarzman was hit on purpose. According to a witness, the driver never slowed down.
This is the second hit-and-run collision in this area recently, the first involved Heath Bernstein, who was riding his bicycle on Highway 101 in Carlsbad when he was run down by a dark-colored pickup truck. According to Bernstein, he believes that the driver of the truck, who “came across one empty lane of traffic and the bike lane” hit him on purpose.
Authorities are looking for a “newer model Ford F-150 pickup, either blue or dark-colored, with obvious front end damage, probably to the headlights” in connection with this accident. According to the 10News article, the truck involved in Sunday’s tragedy is almost identical to the one in Bernstein’s hit-and-run collision.
UPDATE: Detectives are now looking for a Dodge Ram pickup truck, see the details of the vehicle in question here.
Ride safe–it is a crazy world out there.