The Roman Catholic bishop charged with striking a pedestrian with his car and then driving away told police he thought he had hit a dog or a cat or that someone had thrown a rock at his vehicle.
Bishop Thomas O'Brien, 67, was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident. He was released late Monday on $45,000 bond and declined to answer questions when he left jail.
O'Brien made headlines earlier this month when it was announced that he relinquished some of his authority in an unprecedented agreement with prosecutors that spared him from indictment on obstruction charges for protecting child-molesting priests.
In the hit-and-run case Saturday night, 43-year-old Jim Reed died after he was struck by two cars while walking across a street in the middle of the block. Both cars drove off.
The bishop "does admit that he was driving the vehicle and in the area at the time," said Sergeant Laurie Williams.
Witnesses gave police a partial license plate number from the first car, which led investigators to the diocese, Williams said. The diocese told the police that it was O'Brien's car, she said.
Police went to the bishop's home with a search warrant and examined the car. The tan Buick's windshield was caved in on the passenger's side, Williams said. The warrant called for any evidence of blood, hair or glass samples, Williams said.
Williams said O'Brien had told police he was returning home after a Mass on Saturday night.
O'Brien was hospitalized briefly after his arrest. Neither a hospital spokeswoman nor O'Brien's attorney would comment on why he was taken to the hospital.
In a statement, Monsignor Richard Moyer, the diocese's chief of staff, said the diocese would cooperate with the investigation.
"I sincerely regret reports I have received about Bishop O'Brien being involved in a fatal accident," Moyer said. "The sympathy of all of us in the Diocese of Phoenix as well as our prayerful support goes out to the victim's family."
Russell Roide, a priest at St. Francis Xavier Church in Phoenix, said he was shocked by the arrest. "I feel like I've been kicked in the stomach," he said.
Sergeant. Randy Force, a police spokesman, said O'Brien wasn't being charged with causing the crash because Reed was jaywalking. ``If the bishop had remained at the scene, in all likelihood he would not have been charged with any crime,'' Force said.
In the agreement with prosecutors announced earlier this month, O'Brien admitted that he allowed priests to work with minors after he knew of sexual misconduct allegations against them and that he transferred those priests to ministries without telling their new supervisors.
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