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United Airlines Worker Charged In Des Plaines fatal Hit-And-Run

(CBS) -- A United Airlines employee is accused in a fatal hit-and-run crash in Des Plaines last night.

Des Plaines Police say 54-year-old Daniel Wehr of Morton Grove was driving a large SUV that belongs to United Airlines last night.

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And about 9:40 - he hit a 25-year-old bicyclist on Algonquin Road west of Mount Prospect Road - not far from a United facility.

The bicyclist, Jose Gomez of Des Plaines, was killed.

Police Commander Randy Akin says investigators found a license plate lying in the road after the crash.

"But we weren't certain at that time that it was linked specifically to it, but it was part of the recovered property there and we followed that up. And once we located the vehicle, then we were able to feel more comfortable with the identification that it was in fact the vehicle we were looking for."

Daniel Wehr
Daniel Wehr. (Credit: Des Plaines Police)

Commander Akin says that vehicle was found at the United facility, where Daniel Wehr works in maintenance. And Wehr was arrested - within about six hours after the hit-and-run, Akin says - and told police he didn't see Gomez until after he'd hit him.

Wehr is charged with a felony count of leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

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