Authorities Trace Mercedes Car Parts to San Francisco Lawyer, Charge Him in Fatal Hit-and-Run
A San Francisco lawyer is facing a felony case concerning a fatal hit-and-run accident near his San Ramon home in which a bicyclist was killed earlier this week.
Authorities said they traced car parts found at the scene of the accident to employment litigator Spencer Freeman Smith, 32. He was arrested Thursday on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and manslaughter, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
“At the time of the accident, our officers responded and they collected three vehicle parts that were left at the scene,” Dublin Police Lt. Herb Walters told the San Ramon Express. “Each part has a serial number on it. They found that it belonged to a Mercedes.”
In fact, authorities were told, the parts belonged to a brand new black 2012 Mercedes-Benz CLS-550. Under a court order, a local dealership provided a list of recent purchasers, and police said they found one at Smith’s home, after obtaining a search warrant, with extensive damage matching the missing parts.
Attorney Dionne Choyce is representing Smith, who turned himself in when requested to do so by police. “This was a terrible accident,” she told the Chronicle, declining to discuss the facts of the case. Smith’s law partner in San Francisco, Dow Patten, declined to comment.
