Berkeley police arrest suspected drunk driver after fatal hit-and-run
By Tim Fang
A man has been arrested on suspicion of DUI, hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter after a woman was fatally struck by a driver in Berkeley on Tuesday night.
Shortly before 6:40 p.m., officers were called to the intersection of Ashby Avenue and Regent Street after a report of a pedestrian who was struck by a driver headed westbound. The driver left the scene before police arrived.
Officers and emergency personnel located the victim, identified as a 64-year-old woman, with serious injuries. The Berkeley Fire Department took the woman to a local trauma center, where she later succumbed to her injuries and died.
Police did not release the woman’s name.
During the investigation, officers said a witness provided a license plate number of the suspect vehicle, a Kia Soul that was spotted a few blocks from the crash scene. The plate number was entered into the department’s license plate reader system.
Around 9 p.m., police received an alert that the Kia was entering Interstate 80 from the Gilman Street onramp. Officers pulled over the vehicle headed towards San Rafael, past the Interstate 580/80 split, and detained the driver.
Following an investigation, officers arrested the driver, identified as 66-year-old Nikolaus Messina of Oakland.
Messina was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, DUI with a blood alcohol level of 0.08% or more, DUI causing injury, hit-and-run causing injury and gross vehicular manslaughter.
In a statement, the police department credited community involvement and technology in leading to an arrest.
“The witness who came forward with the vehicle’s license plate information provided a critical piece of evidence that, combined with ALPR technology and the swift response of our officers, helped bring this investigation to a timely resolution,” officers said in a statement.
Jail records show Messina is being held at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on $380,000 bail. Messina is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday.
