Driver charged in hit-run with cyclist

Charges were filed against the Holladay man police say hit a bicyclist on Wasatch Boulevard earlier this month and left him on the side of the road.

Nicholas T. Murdock, 28, was charged Monday with leaving the scene of an accident involving injury, a class A misdemeanor, obstructing justice, a class A misdemeanor, and reckless driving, a class B misdemeanor.

The accident happened on the evening of March 19 when a 57-year-old man was riding his bike north on Wasatch Boulevard near 6500 South.

Police said a car going south on the road crossed the center line and hit the bicyclist head on.

"Witnesses saw a male driver and female passenger get out of the white BMW and look briefly at the bicyclist victim," according to charging documents. "The driver then opened the trunk of the BMW and obscured its license plate. Then the driver and passenger got back into the BMW and drove away."

The charges say the victim suffered serious bodily injury and remains in the hospital.

Police later located Murdock, who had parked the car in his mother's garage since the accident. His mother gave police consent to look in the garage, according to the charges.

"The front windshield of the car was smashed, and human hair was found high on the windshield at the head impact point," the charges said.

The woman who was with Murdock told police that Murdock told her he liked to take the corner near the accident at a high rate of speed, the charges said.

— Ethan Thomas