Yolo County bicycle hit & run ends with police dog takedown

Update: Sac Bee reports 38-year-old driver Alamar Houston will be charged with two counts of attempted murder, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and felony driving under the influence of drugs. Two 17-year-old cyclists were seriously injured, one of them critically. 51-year-old Donald Dumaine (whose story is recounted below) suffered road rash when Houston allegedly pushed him from the road. Full story (behind a paywall) at the Sacramento Bee.

Alamar Cyril Houston has a record, with multiple arrests in Glenn, Yolo and Sacramento Counties for petty theft, receiving stolen property, burglary, trespassing and failure to appear.


Several news outlets reported yesterday’s police chase after a hit-and-run versus three cyclists that ended with a police dog takedown of the suspect in Sacramento, California, but there’s much more to this story.

South River Road cyclist hit-and-run broken bicycle

The Sacramento Bee [paywall] and Fox News reported a hit-and-run “accident” on South River Road in Yolo County, California between Clarksburg and West Sacramento. Three cyclists were hit by a blue Hyundai SUV. Two of these cyclists were seriously injured; one required a helicopter medevac.

Several witnesses provided a good description of the fleeing vehicle. West Sacramento Police spotted the vehicle and ordered the driver to pull over. The driver ran, and police pursued over the river into Sacramento, where the driver trapped himself in an alley. The chase continued on foot when a police dog took the suspect down.

Witnesses and the victims claim the hits were intentional. Here’s the report from one of the less seriously injured cyclists.

Tuesday evening I went for bike ride.

This was supposed to be the normal Tuesday evening River Ride (group ride/race training) but it was 105 degrees and nobody showed up for the River Ride. I rode solo on the River Ride route along South River Road. I was just beginning a set of max effort intervals (VO2 max) and was about 1 mile north of the Freeport bridge. I had one minute left on my interval when I saw a blue car quickly move toward me on my left. This movement was deliberate. The car kept moving sideways and contacted me, pushing me about 1-2 feet to the right. The car quickly passed and without the car pushing me right any more the bike swerved left and I went down at 26 mph. As I slid on the asphalt I saw the car drive away.

Another car was coming from the opposite direction on the narrow River Road and he stopped after he passed me. I screamed at this driver to turn around and follow the car that had run me off the road. The witness just sat there and I yelled and pleaded for him to act. About 1 – 2 minutes later the witness turned around. I was out of the road and had my bike propped on the guard rail by this time. The witness told me he would go up the road to see if he could find the driver. I knew it was too late but I thanked him and told him I would call 911.

I called 911 and told the operator what happened, I was injured but did not need an ambulance. I requested the police respond to take a report. Soon I heard sirens and more sirens. A motorist coming from up the road told me there were two seriously injured cyclists about ½ mile up the road. I told this guy I was relatively OK and that I had been deliberately run down by a car. Everyone wanted to know what type of car hit me but I did not get a good look. I told the 911 operator it was a dark blue Hyundai SUV or other smallish SUV type car. I called Marlaigne.

Multiple fire trucks and ambulances passed me. I knew I was not the important emergency situation and I patiently waited for someone to talk to me. I heard more sirens and helicopters. A homeowner came out and I told him what was happening. Another cyclist wearing a Davis Bike Club kit rode up and I told him the situation.

The homeowner went up the road and soon a volunteer firefighter from Clarksburg showed up and checked me out. The firefighter told us to go up the road to talk to the police. The scene up the road was awful. A lifeflight helicopter was landing to take one of the cyclists away. Two bikes were in the road and one was mutilated. A cyclist was in an ambulance. A guy at the back of the ambulance was the rider’s (Jonathan Jackson) father. I looked in the ambulance and recognized the rider as one of the young guys that has been on some of the River rides. The CHP officer taking my info had the drivers license of the critically injured rider clipped on his clipboard. I could not read the name and I did not recognize him.

The best news was the officers were hearing they had a suspect in custody. I repeated my guess that the car was a blue Hyundai to the CHP and sheriff’s officers. They began a crash / crime scene investigation. There was a debate if my bike needed to be impounded as evidence. I took the bike home (it was my red Madone, not the new Emonda).

So here is the current situation: I have some bad road rash on my left side. It is only a “scratch” compared to the injuries to the other two cyclists.

The piece of s that ran us over was caught in Sacramento after a chase and some well-deserved K9 bites.

My bike has some scratches and maybe a cracked frame.

The witness said the driver swerved out, then swerved into me on purpose. It was not an accident or distracted driving.

Via Cliff in Sacramento.

4 Comments

  1. To be fair… the other car and witness did stick around for the accident scene for 4-5 hours. He went to midtown that night and identified the car for the police and was the first to call 911 according to dispatchers and the first to happen upon both incidents. He directed a south bound car to help the more injured cyclists of the second scene while he attempt to give pursuit, while finding the suspect proved futile he was able to warn other cyclists on the levee of the danger before returning to the scene and assisting the first responders.

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