BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Yet another cyclist has been hit and killed on one of Kern County’s deadliest streets — Union Avenue. But the driver who hit him was an on-duty Bakersfield Fire arson investigator.

“Preliminary witness statements said that northbound traffic was flowing through a green light and the bicyclist was traveling westbound on 4th and failed to stop for the red light and rode into cross traffic,” said Rex Davenport, a sergeant with the Bakersfield Police Department.

The cyclist was hit around 10 a.m. in the corner of Union Avenue and 4th Street, right in front of the Great Castle Restaurant. He died at a local hospital.

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The person driving was an on-duty arson investigator in an unmarked car.

This stretch of Union is 40 miles per hour. Since last September, the city has decreased lanes and added bike lanes to increase traffic safety. The street used to have three lanes, but now that’s down to two.

Union is the scene of dozens of accidents, many of them fatal.

Union was taped off between 4th and 5th streets. From the scene, it looks like the cyclist went flying with items scattered 60 to 70 feet across the northbound lanes.

At least four men in fire department uniforms were on scene and a battalion chief truck was there as well.

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“The arson investigator was run through field sobriety tests and there was no impairment whatsoever,” said Davenport.

That test is routine in such accidents. A huge police response responded to the crash as there were crime scene cars, patrol cars, detectives and police motorcycles.

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