This will set cyclists and CSI fans to talking: seven months after a biker was seriously injured in a hit-and-run in Glen Burnie, police say they have used DNA to connect the cyclist and the car that reportedly fled. They have charged the car owner in connection with the case.
The collision occurred at about 7:30 a.m. July 14 on Crain Highway northbound near Georgia Avenue when the biker was legally riding on the road, police said. A gray car hit him and sped away, they said. The rider was taken to a trauma center. Witnesses described the car and the driver, according to police.
Four days later, police said, they received a tip that a car matching their look-out description--which included front end and windshield damage--was in the lot of a Wal-mart in Severn. They contacted the owner. The 2005 silver Chevy Cobalt was towed and searched. Among other items, police collected DNA evidence from the car.
In December, police said, DNA results linked that sample to the cyclist who had been hit. On Wednesday, police charged the car’s owner in the accident that injured biker Marco A. Garcia, 41, of Glen Burnie.
The car owner, John Harrison Correlli, 57, of Brookmont Drive in Baltimore, faces numerous traffic violations charges that include failing to stay at the scene, negligent driving, leaving the scene of a collision that caused serious bodily injury without rendering aid and failing to pass safely when overtaking a bicycle.
