The 10-speed techie who gained notoriety as the first San Francisco cyclist to be convicted of felony manslaughter after he sailed through a Castro district intersection and plowed into a 71-year-old man is now saying he was the victim of a malicious prosecution by San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón.

“It was a TV felony,” Chris Bucchere said in a phone interview, saying that Gascón was “advancing his political career” when he charged the software developer in the 2012 death of Sutchi Hui of San Bruno.

“The reality is I failed as a cyclist my moral responsibility to keep everyone safe ... and I’m terribly sorry about,” Bucchere said. Still, he argues he was the “unlucky” victim of prosecutorial misconduct and bias, as well as a feeding frenzy by the media.

Bucchere had been on a long ride on March 29, 2012, when prosecutors said he sped through several stop signs and ran a red light at Castro and Market streets, hitting Hui, who was walking with his wife.

Hours later, and days before Hui died, Bucchere posted on a blog that he was “way too committed to stop” at the intersection — then dedicated the post to his “late helmet (that) died in heroic fashion.”

Bucchere’s seeming cavalier attitude sparked outrage among many in the community who saw him as the archetype of the self-centered techie. But Bucchere said he was on painkillers and “half out of my mind” from his own head injury when he wrote the post.

Anyway, he said, “I never made a comparison between my ‘dead’ helmet and the man I had killed — he was alive when I wrote that and expected him to recover from his injuries.”

Bucchere was charged with felony manslaughter. He says the case took a turn when investigators from the D.A.’s office retrieved surveillance video that showed the light turned red as he entered the intersection and it was too late for him to stop and avoid the crash.

“The video was incredibly lucky and it definitely saved me from jail, but it couldn’t stop Gascón’s vendetta against cyclists,” Bucchere said.

A pretrial deal was struck in which Bucchere pleaded guilty to manslaughter, which allowed the D.A. to term it a felony but also called for the charge to be dropped to a misdemeanor after Bucchere completed 1,000 of community service.

Bucchere, who still works as a software developer and lives in Marin County, has made his case the subject of 10-week, self-produced series of podcasts and blogs, with the first installment debuting Sunday and available at www.medium.com/bikelash.

As for the reaction from Gascón’s office?

“Bucchere blames his felony conviction on our office, the Matier & Ross column, the witnesses at the scene and the pedestrians on hand, but talk is cheap and actions speak louder than words,” said D.A. spokesman Alex Bastian. “His actions that day killed a beloved 71-year-old family man. If he’s looking to cast blame, he should look in the mirror.”

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@ sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross