Fairfield Hit-And-Run Results In One Killed, One Arrested

A man helping to jump start a vehicle at a parking lot in Fairfield Thursday morning was fatally struck by the car, and the man driving it was arrested after trying to flee the scene, police said.

Officers responded at about 10 a.m. Thursday to the 4400 block of Central Way on a report of a hit-and-run that occurred in the parking lot of a business.

They arrived to find Rudy Gonzales, 70, of Hayward dead from injuries consistent with having been struck by a vehicle, according to police.

Investigators learned a recreational vehicle had fled the scene after the crash. The vehicle was located shortly afterward at a nearby business and its driver, 52-year-old Michael Wilbert, was arrested, police said.

According to the preliminary investigation, the 70-year-old victim was driving his own vehicle when he stopped to assist Wilbert, whose vehicle's battery was not working.

While trying to jump start the vehicle, the victim was somehow struck by it, and Wilbert fled without assisting him or trying to report the incident, police said.

Wilbert, a Fairfield resident, was booked in Solano County Jail on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run, according to police

The investigation into the crash is ongoing. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Fairfield police at (707) 428-7300.

--- Bay City News Service