A leading oceanographer whose work enabled scientists to better predict the effects of climate change has died after being struck by a driver who fled the scene.
Francois Primeau was cycling through a junction in Orange County, California on Friday evening when he was “struck by a vehicle”. Despite efforts being made to save his life, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Santa Ana Police Department announced yesterday that 38-year-old Edjan Rocha had turned himself in to police officers, and that he had been arrested on charges of vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run.
Police officers have also recovered the vehicle involved in the collision which was found abandoned near the scene. The car was impounded as evidence.
Primeau was chair of University College Irvine’s Department of Earth System Sciences, having first joined the university in 2001. In a tribute published following confirmation of his death, the school’s interim Dean wrote, “Francois was a dedicated leader, researcher, mentor, colleague, and friend. He will be remembered for his excitement in sharing mathematical insights and his enthusiasm for Bayesian statistics.
“His smile was always warm, and his door was always open. We were all fortunate to know him and to count him among our community. We have lost one of our best.
“He was an internationally recognized leader in physical oceanography and ocean biogeochemistry, whose work helped deepen our understanding of global ocean circulation and global carbon and nutrient cycles.
“His work has equipped scientists with the tools to make more accurate climate predictions—a legacy that will benefit generations to come.”
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Primeau’s death is not the only recent fatal collision to have attracted attention. Yesterday, police in New Hampshire closed an investigation into the death of a cyclist following a collision after the only witness, the driver of the car which fatally struck 72-year-old Joseph Miller, said the cyclist veered into the car’s path.
The driver, who was travelling at 47mph on a 50mph road, should have provided 5 feet (1.5m) of distance between themself and the cyclist. But a local cyclist raised concerns with the local Valley News newspaper, saying the police report did not explain why the road cyclist was purportedly riding in the dirt section on the side of the road nor outlined where on the road the car was positioned at the time of the collision, though a police diagram suggested the SUV had partly moved into the other lane.
Last month, another hit-and-run incident attracted attention in the Deep South. Members of the North Georgia Cycle Association were on their regular club ride when a driver, beeping his horn throughout, hit a cyclist with his car after not leaving space between himself and the cyclists. One cyclist suffered a fractured spine as well as bad road rash from the collision.
72-year-old Jerry Ross was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated assault, aggressive driving, hit-and-run, and failing to maintain distance, but reportedly blamed the cyclists for the collision as they were “in the middle of the road.”
