Bicyclist Riding to Work Killed in Katy Hit-and-Run; Driver Traced to a Nearby Home and Charged

A woman in her early 20s riding her bicycle to work was killed Sunday night in a hit-and-run crash in Katy, the Harris County Sheriff's Office says. Deputies were called at about 9:30 p.m. to Pitts Road near the intersection of Clay Road after reports of a severe crash. Investigators said the woman was riding to her job at a local convenience store when an SUV hit her.

The break in the case came from one of the sheriff's own. An off-duty deputy at a gas station noticed an SUV with heavy front-end damage parked there, officials said, and the driver told him she had hit something in the road. The off-duty deputy went to check the roadway and found the woman lying on the road just as other deputies and emergency crews were arriving. Responding deputies began CPR, but emergency medical personnel pronounced her deceased at the scene.

By then the driver was gone again: another vehicle had arrived at the gas station to pick her up, and she rode away from the parking lot, officials said. Deputies traced her to a nearby home and took her into custody without further incident. She faces charges of failure to stop and render aid, according to the sheriff's office; deputies said she showed no signs of intoxication and has been cooperating with investigators.

Officials have not released the identity of the woman who was killed, or of the driver - both names belong to the sheriff's office to release, and this story will carry them only when it does. What is established is the shape of a Sunday-night commute that thousands of Houston-area service workers make by bicycle on roads built for cars: she was on her way to work, and she did not arrive.