Suspect arrested in August fatal hit-and-run in San Pablo
A man wanted in connection with a fatal hit-and-run collision in San Pablo last month was arrested Tuesday, authorities said.
San Pablo police said the collision happened on August 24 at about 8:20 p.m. on the 1300 block of 23rd Street near the Richmond city limit just north of Richmond High School.
Officers who responded to reports of a vehicle crash into a pedestrian arrived and found a man in the roadway with major injuries and that the vehicle had fled from the scene, police said. Medics arrived after officers began first-aid efforts, but the victim died at the scene. He was identified as a 51-year-old Richmond resident.
Police said the investigation determined that a silver Dodge Charger was speeding on 23rd Street heading south when, for reasons unknown, it veered into the northbound lane of 23rd Street and hit the pedestrian in the roadway. After the collision, the Charger continued south on 23rd Street at a high rate of speed, police said.
The unoccupied suspect vehicle was found later that evening in Richmond with damage consistent with the hit-and-run crash, police said. It was impounded from the scene for evidence processing.
Detectives eventually determined the suspect driver's identity as 30-year-old Richmond resident Charles Michael Johnson III and obtained an arrest warrant. On Tuesday, police detectives located Johnson on the 2700 block of El Portal Drive in San Pablo and arrested him without incident.
Johnson was booked at the Martinez Detention Facility on charges of vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run, pending formal charges by the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office.
Anyone with information about the incident was encouraged to contact the San Pablo Police Department at 510-215-3150.
