Arrest made in hit-and-run that killed a bicyclist
Byron Itzep, of the 5200 block of Rorer Street, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and other charges in the death of bicyclist Danyel O. Tingle.
Philadelphia police have arrested a 42-year-old man following a fatal hit-and-run crash that killed a bicyclist in the city’s Olney neighborhood on Friday.
Byron Itzep, 42, of the 5200 block of Rorer Street, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, driving without a license, causing an accident involving death, and causing a fatal accident while having no drivers license.
Cyclist Danyel O. Tingle, 41, of Port Richmond, was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:48 p.m. Friday, police spokesman Miguel Torres said Sunday.
It was the fourth hit-and-run accident in the city in a week.
Itzep was driving a 2005 Chevrolet in an unknown direction about 8:38 p.m. when the vehicle struck Tingle at the intersection of Westford Road and Ashdale Street, police said. Itzep fled the scene on foot, but contacted police at 12:30 a.m. Saturday, police said. According to police records, Itzep lives about four blocks from the accident scene.
Last week’s crashes come after a year in which hit-and-run fatalities rose to 31, a record number triple that of 2019.
» READ MORE: Hit-and-run deaths reach a record in Philadelphia
Of the 117 fatal car crashes recorded in 2022 to mid-December, police records show, drivers fled the scene in one out of four of them.
Last Tuesday, at 7:20 p.m., the driver of a dark-colored SUV traveling south on Frankford Avenue hit a 53-year-old man as he walked near the 7000 block of Frankford Avenue in Mayfair, police said. The driver fled the scene, and the man was taken to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital in critical condition.
And there were two fatal hit-and-run accidents within hours of each other on Jan. 22.
In the first, at about 5:40 p.m., a car struck and killed Savoun So, 43, on the 600 block of Oregon Avenue in South Philadelphia, police said. So was crossing Oregon Avenue from the south sidewalk to the north sidewalk when someone driving eastbound in a silver SUV hit her.
At 8:33 p.m., Edguardo Rosario Jimenez, 31, was riding a bike on the 1900 block of North Howard Street in Kensington when a white box van fatally hit him, police said. The van’s driver fled northbound on Howard Street.