Patrick Jeffery Leroy, Death – A 35-year-old bicyclist was killed in a hit-and-run collision with a sedan on the afternoon of Sept. 3 on Hendersonville Road, according to a Sept. 4 news release from the Asheville Police Department.
APD patrol officers responded to the incident around 1:12 p.m. Sept. 3 near the 2200 block of Hendersonville Road in South Asheville. A preliminary investigation indicates the cyclist, identified on the evening of Sept. 4 as Patrick Jeffery Leroy, was traveling southbound in the turn lane when a blue sedan traveling northbound on Hendersonville Road attempted to pass another vehicle by using the turn lane, resulting in a head-on collision, according to the release.
The driver of the vehicle fled the scene before officers arrived. Leroy was transported to Mission Hospital by Buncombe County EMS, where he died from injuries soon after, according to the news statement. The next of kin has been notified.
The vehicle and driver were located later that night. Police “are continuing to investigate and will consult with the Buncombe County District Attorney’s Office regarding charges,” the release said.
If anyone has any information about the incident, call APD at 828-252-1110, or send an anonymous tip by texting TIP2APD to 847411.
This has so far been a deadly Labor Day weekend in Asheville. Ismael Munoz, 37, was killed in a West Asheville shooting Sept. 2. According to an Asheville police news release, Arturo Cordero Martinez, 47, has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting, and was arrested later that night outside Ferdinand, Indiana, by Indiana State Police.