22-year-old charged with hitting, killing PNNL scientist on morning bike ride
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- Benton County charged a 22-year-old with first-degree negligent driving.
- Collision occurred Sept. 17 around 5:30 a.m.; Honda allegedly struck cyclist in bike lane.
- Victim Eric Hill, 49, PNNL scientist and father of eight, died at the scene.
A 22-year-old is charged in the death of a Tri-Cities scientist last fall when she allegedly drove into a bike lane and hit him from behind on his morning ride.
Rylee K. Zaikawski told investigators that she “looked down for a second” and when she looked up she saw cyclist Eric Hill in her path.
“She stated that she then ‘felt’ the impact and knew she had hit him,” according to police reports released to the Tri-City Herald as part of a public records request.
Zaikawski stopped and called 911. But Hill died at the scene, uphill from the Duportail Bridge in Richland.
Benton County prosecutors have charged Zaikawski was first-degree negligent driving with a victim who was vulnerable, a gross misdemeanor.
Hill, 49, was a father of eight and an avid cyclist who frequently rode along Duportail Street.
Court documents and recently released police reports provide more information about collision that happened at 5:30 a.m. on Sept. 17 between the south end of the Duportail Bridge and the intersection with Queensgate Drive.
Zaikawski left the Riverpointe Apartments in a 2022 Honda HR-V and was heading uphill toward Queensgate Drive on her way to get coffee, she told investigators.
Hill, a longtime scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, was believed to be six miles into a bike route that he rode every morning.
His bicycle was equipped with lights on the front and back, Richland police reports said.
Traffic camera video showed him riding in the bicycle lane as he passed City View Drive. Then, the camera also showed the Honda heading up the hill at about 43 mph. The street has a speed limit of 35 mph.
The camera footage showed she was driving in the bike lane at the bottom of the hill at Tanglewood drive.
Evidence from the scene allegedly showed the Honda was also in the bike lane when Zaikawski crashed into the rear of the bike.
After making an initial statement to police, she wouldn’t talk about the details of the crash with police.
Investigators found no evidence that she was impaired at the time of the crash. Zaikawski, formerly of Prosser, is out of jail on her own recognizance after pleading innocent to the charge.
Longtime PNNL scientist
Hill spent over 26 years at PNNL in Richland, including overseeing the Microbial Cell Dynamics Laboratory. The lab, created by the Department of Energy, develops microbes to clean up ecosystems contaminated by radioactive waste.
“His unique skills and passion for engineering solutions to biological problems were the cornerstone of that lab, and he even had patents for his innovations,” his group leader, Vanessa Bailey, told the Herald after the crash.
In addition to cycling, Hill loved racing cars, listening to music, dancing with his children and learning something new every day, according to a GoFundMe created to help with funeral expenses.
Hill was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served as a bishop of the Grandridge Ward in the Richland South Stake.
He was a self-described “product of the community college system,” earning his associate’s degree through Running Start, and was studying civil engineering when he left on a two-year LDS mission, according to his LinkedIn profile.
When he returned, he met his wife of 27 years, Kelly Hill, and had eight children, ages 5 to 24, and a grandchild, according to the GoFundMe post.