A 23-year-old man has been booked on suspicion of murder following a hit-and-run collision that killed a 30-year-old man who was riding a bicycle on East Coast Highway in Newport Beach, police announced Monday.
Neil Storm Stephany, a resident of Huntington Beach, was taken into custody Sunday on charges that also included DUI causing great bodily injury, narcotics possession, hit-and-run, and possession of drug paraphernalia, the Newport Beach Police department said in a news release.
A white Toyota Tacoma and the bicycle were traveling on East Coast Highway, just east of Los Trancos (map), at the time of the crash, which was reported at 5:03 p.m., the release said.
The driver of the truck, later identified as Stephany, fled the scene without stopping to render aid, according to police. He was apprehended near the intersection of East Coast Highway and Newport Center Drive.
The bicyclist, Shaun Eagleson of Fountain Valley, was critically injured. Paramedics transported him to a trauma center, where he died Sunday evening, officials said.
The suspect has previously been convicted of driving under the influence, police said.
“In California, a previous DUI conviction, and the subsequent required alcohol education, is considered an adequate indicator to suggest ‘implied malice’ in subsequent DUI arrests involving the death of another party,” according to the news release.
Stephany was being held without bail, which had initially been set at $100,000.
An investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Investigator Eric Little at 949-644-3746 or elittle@nbpd.org.