Richmond police have arrested a 66-year-old man in connection with a hit-and-run that killed a man on Hellings Avenue about a week ago.
Don Mack of Richmond was taken into custody at about 6 p.m. on Sunday at an apartment building in the 400 block of Fourth Street, police said at a press conference held at the police substation on Monday. He was arrested on suspicion of felony hit-and-run, vehicular manslaughter and driving with a suspended license and is being held at the Martinez Detention Facility in lieu of $152,000 bail.
Rafael Delgado, 81, was struck and killed in a crosswalk as he left the nearby Bahia de Jiquilisco restaurant on 23rd Street at about 8 p.m. on Aug. 23. Police said he was carried on the hood of the vehicle until he was “thrown some distance away.”
Delgado’s family last week posted on social media a plea asking the community for help finding the responsible party and asked for anyone who had video footage near the scene to contact police.
At the press conference, police showed a snippet of footage that investigators said captured what happened. The video, which appears to have come from a surveillance camera atop the nearby U-Haul building, shows Delgado using a crosswalk as a car comes through it.
“The footage shows Mr. Delgado crossing 23rd Street at a marked, well-lit crosswalk,” Richmond police Chief Timothy Simmons said, adding that another vehicle that was traveling southbound had stopped to let Delgado cross. “The vehicle (that struck Delgado) continued traveling with Mr. Delgado on the hood of the vehicle until he was thrown from the vehicle some distance away.”
Lt. Donald Patchin, a spokesperson for the department and leader of the traffic unit that investigated the case, said that detectives used a combination of Flock automatic license plate readers and fixed cameras to find the vehicle.
“Those were instrumental in giving us the leads that we needed to get this case solved,” Patchin said. He said the vehicle had been abandoned and police found it on Aug. 25.
“That basically gave us enough to write the search warrant for who we believe was the driver which would logically be the person that owns the vehicle,” Patchin said.
Mack was taken into custody without incident, according to Patchin.
When asked if drugs or alcohol were suspected to be factors, police said they’re still investigating the driver’s whereabouts before the incident.
“The unfortunate thing is that seven days after the fact there is no blood evidence or any type of evidence that we can garner to prove that,” Patchin said. “That doesn’t mean that we won’t be looking into his actions prior to the collision. Again, even though it’s been seven days since the collision, his arrest occurring last night, we’re still in the infancy but we’re hitting our stride and still following up and doing what we can to make sure we get all of the information needed for the district attorney to prosecute the case.”
Members of Delgado’s family were at the press conference and said that they appreciated the community’s support and asked the media to respect the family as they grieve.
“Moving forward I just ask that people of the community to continue to show us love and support. I don’t want to answer any questions of details of the case because I am letting police do their job as I’ve mentioned before,” said Lucia Delgado, Delgado’s daughter. “I trust God to handle this case. God to be the judge. God to be the DA.”
She thanked investigators for getting the family “one step closer,” something that she said is a milestone being that some families wait years for cases to be resolved.
She also said she believes her father did not deserve what happened to him.
“I pray for this person (Mack) and I pray for those who were around and witnessed this,” she said.
Lt. Joseph England, another Richmond police spokesperson, said that the fatal hit-and-run, coming so soon after a fatal arson that killed four people, was another “senseless” case that the community is having to grapple with.
“Mr. Delgado was well known in this community,” England said. “This community has gone through a lot in the last two weeks. This community is suffering. It’s horrible and tragic.”
When asked how the recent cases are affecting the department’s investigative capacity, England said detectives aren’t getting much sleep.
“Our investigators are working very hard. Our homicide team working on that investigation (the arson) and our traffic investigators working on this one,” England said. “I want to reassure that our investigators are not going to sleep until we get our answers (to these investigations). So they are working around the clock to get those answers, what this family deserves and what this community deserves is the most important thing for us.”
According to a Telemundo report, Delgado was frequently at Bahia de Jiquilisco, singing during karaoke nights at the restaurant.
Community members attended a vigil for Delgado there on Friday.
Lucia Delgado shared a GoFundMe campaign and said they are raising money for her father’s funeral expenses.
So far, the campaign has raised $2,100.
Thank you for covering this tragedy for the Delgado family.