Bend cyclist: Driver who hit him, fled was laughing

(Update: Injured bicyclist says driver, passenger left ‘laughing’)

A 21-year-old Bend man has surrendered to police and been arrested on several charges in a hit-and-run crash Saturday morning in which his pickup truck struck and seriously injured a bicyclist on the southwest outskirts of Bend, then fled the scene, authorities said. The recovering cyclist said he recalls the two people in the pickup laughing as they left the scene.

The bicyclist, Roy (Andrew) Holtvedt, 61, of Bend, sustained serious injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening, the sergeant added.

“Basically, I lost my summer,” Holtvedt told NewsChannel 21 on Tuesday. “I lost my bike. I lost my computer. I lost my health. I have heart disease, so any aggravation to that doesn’t help me.”

On Monday morning, one day after Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies released three surveillance images of a likely suspect pickup truck, Travis John Roberts turned himself in to detectives in the lobby of the sheriff’s office in Bend, Sgt. William Bailey said.

Roberts was arrested on charges of third-degree assault, felony failure to perform the duties of a driver to injured persons and reckless driving. He was booked into the county jail, where he remained Tuesday morning, held on $35,000 bail pending an initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon, jail records showed.

The truck believed to have been involved in the crash, a blue 1997 Toyota Tacoma, has been located and seized as evidence, Bailey said. The passenger in the truck also was contacted and interviewed by detectives.

Deputies responded around 10:30 a.m. Saturday to the reported hit-and-run vehicle-vs.-bicyclist crash in the area of Skyline Ranch Road and Macalpine Loop, Bailey said.

Information gathered from witnesses indicated a blue mid-sized pickup with a white canopy struck the bicyclist and fled the scene, Bailey said.

Holtvedt recounted what happened Saturday morning, from his perspective.

“All of a sudden, this truck just slammed into me, and I went flying off my bike,” Holtvedt said. “They took off laughing. That’s what I remember. They were laughing.”

Holtvedt said he sustained a compression fracture in his lower spine, as well as cuts and bruises.