SANTA ROSA
Bicyclist killed; police arrest pickup driver
Charlie Goodyear 
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Officers responding to a report of a spun-out pickup truck Monday evening discovered a dead bicyclist and arrested a suspected drunken driver, according to the California Highway Patrol.
CHP Officer Shannon King said the driver of the pickup had been arrested on Mark West Springs Road near Riebli Road shortly after police arrived at the scene at 5:20 p.m.
"The officer had determined that he was under the influence and placed him in custody,‘’ King said. “It was then that emergency medical personnel saw the bicyclist lying off to the side of the road. We believe the pickup truck sideswiped the bicyclist.”
King said the cyclist had been thrown by the impact over a guardrail into a construction site.
Authorities did not name the 43-year-old male victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene, but they identified the suspect driver as William Michael Albertson, 46, of Cobb (Lake County).
Albertson was described as uncooperative with officers. He was booked on suspicion of felony drunken driving involving a fatality and resisting arrest.
Sonoma County has recorded an unusually high number of fatal accidents involving bicyclists in recent years. King said the site of Monday’s fatality was along a stretch of winding road with no shoulder space.