Hide Transcript Show Transcript

ARREST. MIKE: THE SILVER TOYOTA PICKUP TRUCK WITH MAJOR DAMAGE IS NOW IN CUSTODY AND SO IS THE MAN WHO WAS ALLEGEDLY BEHIND THE WHEEL. A LICENSE PLATE LED INVESTIGATORS TO A SUSPECT. WESLEY HAD INVESTIGATORS GO TO THAT ADDRESS. THEY SPOKE TO A MAN AND A WOMAN. HIS NAME WAS WILLIAM BEASLEY. MIKE: HE HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH FELONY MANSLAUGHTER AND A HIT-AND-RUN. HE HIT BILL HESTER WHO WAS ON HIS WAY TO A DENTAL APPOINTMENT. STRIKING HIM JUST AS HE PUSHED HIS WIFE OUT OF HARM’S WAY. >> HE HAS TO PAY THE PRICE. HE SHOULD HAVE STOPPED. IF YOU HIT SOMEBODY, YOU SHOULD STOP. MIKE: WALKING ACROSS AN INTERSECTION CAN BE DANGEROUS ANYWHERE, BUT INVESTIGATORS RECEIVED GOOD INFORMATION FROM EYEWITNESSES AND SOCIAL MEDIA. >> IT IS THE ACTUAL PHOTO THAT WAS TAKEN AFTER THE SEARCH WARRANT WAS DONE. >> THAT PICKUP TRUCK WAS DISCOVERED FAR FROM BEASLEY’S HOME. >> IT SOUNDS LIKE HE DID NOT WANT THE VEHICLE PARKED AT HIS HOUSE. YOU CAN DRAW CONCLUSIONS FROM THAT. >> -- >> I HAVE TWO SMALL CHILDREN WHO ARE JUST GETTING T

Advertisement Deadly Sacramento County hit-and-run suspect behind bars CHP uses social media to capture suspect and his truck Share Shares Copy Link Copy

The California Highway Patrol has arrested a suspected hit-and-run driver accused of killing an elderly man Tuesday. “He’s at the Sacramento County jail,” said CHP officer Amy Walker. “He’s been charged with felony hit-and-run and manslaughter.”In custody is 70-year-old William Nathaniel Beasley of Antelope. He’s the man investigators have been looking for for five days after Bill Hester, 73, was struck down Tuesday near McClellan Park by a driver who never stopped.A silver Toyota Tacoma pickup truck with major right front-end damage is in custody. And so is the man who was allegedly behind the wheel in Tuesday’s hit-and-run crash. The key tip was license plate identification, which led investigators to a suspect Saturday morning.“We had officers go to that address in Antelope,” Walker said. “They did knock on the door there. They spoke to a man and a woman."Beasley is accused of killing Hester, who was on his way to a dental appointment at a VA clinic when the silver pickup truck came rambling down Palm Street, striking Hester just as he pushed his wife out of harm’s way. On Sunday, there was this reaction from the crash scene:“He has to pay the price,” said Georgette Lewis-Roy, who said she was relieved to learn of the arrest. “He should have stopped. That’s one thing I feel, if you hit someone you need to stop. Don’t run, hit-and-run. I don’t believe in that." Walking across an intersection can be dangerous, especially if it is unmarked, such as the one at Arnold Avenue where it crosses Palm Street. In this case, investigators said they received some good information from witnesses and also from social media.“The Toyota Tacoma that I posted on social media is the actual photo that was taken after the search warrant was done and the vehicle was seized,” Walker said. “It was on the back of a tow truck at that point.”That pickup truck was discovered far from Beasley’s Antelope home. “He told us that the truck had been parked in Rio Linda after the traffic collision," Walker said. “It sounds like he wanted to not have the vehicle parked at his house. You can draw conclusions from that." For the victim’s family, there is heartache in losing a beloved spouse, father and grandfather. “He killed my husband and my best friend. He never tried to slow up. He didn’t even care. He just kept going. And I don’t understand how a person can do that," said Deborah Hester.“I have two small children that were just getting to know their grandfather,” Bill Hester Jr. told KCRA 3 on Wednesday. “That’s never going to happen now." KCRA 3 tried meeting with Beasley inside the Sacramento County Jail on Sunday, but he declined to be interviewed on camera.CHP told KCRA 3 that Beasley is now cooperating with authorities. He is expected to be arraigned later this week.