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FRESNO, CA (KMJ) – Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer held a news conference Friday afternoon to announce the arrest of 25-year-old Matthew Chenot.
Dyer says Chenot was responsible for the hit and run death Thursday night.
70-year-old Ram Bhatia was killed in the intersection of Friant Rd. and Cooper River Dr.
Chief Dyer said Chenot was arrested for felony DUI, felony hit-and-run, and gross vehicular manslaughter and booked into the Fresno County Jail.
Dyer says Chenot tried to cover up his involvement in the crash by calling to report his BMW had been stolen, shortly after the hit-and-run.
The crash investigators determined the car involved was a BMW by a piece of weather stripping found at the crash site.
Matthew Chenot is the registered owner of the BMW.
When he called to report the stolen vehicle, detectives found the call was placed near Millerton and Auberry.
On their way there, officers spotted Chenot and a woman.
Detectives found security video of those two drinking alcohol at the Applebee’s, as well as drinking alcohol at Pine Flat, and realized the report of a stolen vehicle was a lie.
Detectives found that Chenot drove away from the restaurant, going around 60 miles-an-hour when police say he hit Bhatia.
Police say Chenot was driving, and when he and the woman got about fifteen miles away, the car broke down, and Chenot called to report the car stolen.
Chenot told police that he was aware he hit an object that he realized may have been a person, but chose to keep driving anyway.
Police say the woman with Chenot has been cooperative.
Click to listen to the report by KMJ’s Liz Kern:
