A bicyclist trying to avoid a collision was hit and killed when he was run over by an AC Transit bus Wednesday afternoon, police said.

The accident occurred a little after 4:30 p.m. on MacArthur Boulevard near Patterson Avenue in Oakland, said AC Transit spokesman Clarence Johnson.

The cyclist and a bus on the NX line were traveling in the same direction when the cyclist apparently tried to steer away from a car door as it was opening. He ended up striking the door and bounced off it into traffic. The bus drove over him, said Oakland Police Department spokesman Jeff Thomason. The victim was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he died.

He was identified by the Alameda County Medical Examiner's Office as Erik Fitzpatrick, 35, of Oakland.

The bus driver said she was unaware of what happened and drove for about a block until she was alerted - perhaps by a boarding passenger - that the cyclist was down, Johnson said.

He said the driver was distraught. As is policy, the veteran driver will be tested automatically for drugs and alcohol, but those substances did not appear to be a factor, Thomason said.