ALBANY — The Bethlehem teen charged with manslaughter for allegedly running down a pedestrian in Arbor Hill Saturday and fleeing the scene was released Friday morning on $75,000 bail — half of what prosecutors had sought.

Ian Eckardt-Rigberg, 19, walked out of the Albany County Judicial Center on Lodge Street with his parents around noon Friday, angering friends of Rozell Whitehead who had hoped the teen would stay behind bars until after Whitehead's Saturday funeral.

"I don't think it's fair for him to have only gotten a $75,000 bail when he killed someone," Tomika Perry, 32, said.

Perry, who called Whitehead a close family friend, specifically cited prosecutors' assertion that Eckardt-Rigberg not only fled the scene of the fatal crash but later lied to Bethlehem police three times about how he damaged his car — first saying he hit another vehicle, then a tree then a deer.

"He left the scene of the crash and lied to the Bethlehem police three different times," she said. "His family got money — he can do whatever he wants. That's what's wrong with America today."

Authorities allege Eckardt-Rigberg, whose license was restricted due to three previous speeding tickets, was fleeing from a state trooper when he hastily exited I-90 toward Arbor Hill around 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Eckardt-Rigberg allegedly ran a red light at Henry Johnson Boulevard and Livingston Avenue moments before slamming into the 53-year-old Whitehead, who had just left work at a nearby flower shop, near the intersection of Henry Johnson Boulevard and Third Street.

The young man's attorney, Mark Mishler, noted in his bail application to acting state Supreme Court Justice Dan Lamont that Eckardt-Rigberg drove himself to the Bethlehem Police Department after leaving the scene of his crash.

But Assistant District Attorney Mary Tanner-Richter called that act hollow because the teen later repeatedly misled the police about how he damaged his car, changing his story each time officers disproved the earlier one.

Tanner-Richter asked Lamont to set bail at a $150,000, but Mishler argued for a more reasonable sum, citing Eckardt-Rigberg's strong ties to the community.

As a condition of Eckardt-Rigberg's release, Lamont also ordered the teen to surrender his restricted driver's license and passport and abide by a curfew between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Mishler asked the judge — and Lamont consented — to exempt Eckardt-Rigberg's early-morning job delivering newspapers for the Times Union from the curfew, so long as someone else is driving the car.

"Of course what happened is a terrible tragedy," Mishler said, "and that's something my client certainly understands."

Funeral services for Whitehead are scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at Power House City Of Deliverance church on Sheridan Avenue.

jcarleo-evangelist@timesunion.com • 518-454-5445 • @JCEvangelist_TU