POSSIBLE HIT-AND-RUN DRIVER HELD ON OTHER CHARGE
Police arrest man believed connected to hit-and-run.
RIVIERA BEACH — Marjorie Murphy described her late husband, Eugene William Murphy, as an avid runner who competed in various marathons and triathlons after retiring from practicing law a decade ago.
The 78-year-old Palm Beach Gardens resident was part of an informal group who went running at the Blue Heron Boulevard Bridge every Tuesday, family members said.
Murphy — described by his wife as “a loving and caring husband and father and grandfather” — was jogging in a bike lane on the bridge at about 6 a.m. Tuesday when he was killed in what city police described as a hit-andrun crash.
On Wednesday, Riviera Beach police announced the arrest of a man believed to be connected to the crash.
Matthew David Archer, 35, was arrested Tuesday night after he tried to flee from officers who were attempting to pull his car over, police spokesperson Rose Anne Brown said. Archer was driving a 2003 Lincoln that “closely matches the description” of the
vehicle witnesses linked to the fatal crash on the north side of the bridge.
Archer, of Palm Beach Gardens, was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail at about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday on a charge of fleeing from and eluding police. He was being held on $10,000 bail.
Archer is not yet facing any charges in connection to Tuesday’s hit-and-run crash.
Eugene Murphy, a native of Wisconsin, had lived in Palm Beach County since 1970 and specialized in estate and real estate law. In 1978, he started the Murphy, Reid and Pillotte law firm, where he would remain until he retired in 2008.
Murphy was also active in organizations, including serving as a director for the Walter and Adi Blum Foundation, which was established to help underserved communities in the county.
Riviera Beach police said they spotted Archer’s vehicle on the 1500 block of Broadway, just north of the city marina, on Tuesday night and pursued it southbound before it was stopped in the 500 block of 57th Street in West Palm Beach.
Archer was found guilty Sept. 7 of dealing in stolen property by use of the internet and unauthorized possession of a driver’s license and was sentenced to two days of served time in the Palm Beach County Jail, court records show.
Murphy is at least the third person to have been struck and killed by drivers on the bridge since Jan. 1, 2000, when Grace Redgate died as her mother pushed her stroller along it after a trip to Phil Foster Park.
On Sept. 25, 2006, Cynthia Andrews and Linda Taylor died when a GMC Suburban SUV hit them during an early morning walk.
A 3-foot-high concrete barrier was constructed after Andrews and Taylor died to help separate drivers and pedestrians.
Anyone with information about Tuesday’s fatal crash is asked to call Riviera Beach police at (561) 845-4123 or Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County at (800) 458-TIPS (8477). Callers to Crime Stoppers can be anonymous.