Lorain man charged in hit-and-run death of officer

CLEVELAnD » The man charged in the fatal hit-andrun of a Cleveland police patrolman was driving more than 60 mph in the fast lane of an interstate when he struck the officer, according to a court document filed Wednesday municipal court.

Israel Alvarez, 44, was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of an accident for the death of 39-year-old Patrolman David Fahey on Jan. 24.

Alvarez is expected to appear in court Jan. 26. It’s unclear if he has an attorney.

Police said Fahey was setting down flares to close the westbound lanes of Interstate 90 after an earlier fatal accident when he was struck. Alvarez disregarded “several emergency vehicles that were parked utilizing their overhead lights,” according to an affidavit by a Cleveland police accident investigator.

An agent from the Department of Homeland Security found Alvarez’s damaged Toyota Camry several hours later parked in the driveway of a home in Lorain, where Alvarez was arrested at gunpoint. Cleveland officers took Fahey’s handcuffs to Lorain to use on Alvarez.

Fahey joined the Cleveland police department in July 2014. His Facebook page says he previously served in the U.S. Navy as an aviation boatswain mate and then worked as an emergency medical technician for a private ambulance company and a technician at the Cleveland Clinic. Fahey’s mother and stepfather are retired Cleveland police officers. His brother joined the department in 2013.

Cleveland.com has reported that Fahey’s father was killed by a hit-and-run driver on a highway exit ramp near downtown Cleveland in 1978. The news site reported that the 21-year-old David Fahey Sr. had stopped to help a co-worker change a tire when he was struck by a motorist who sped off.

A viewing for Fahey is scheduled from 1 to 8 p.m. Friday at Chambers Funeral Home in North Olmsted. A funeral Mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church in Cleveland.

According to Lorain County Common Pleas Court records, Alvarez has convictions for aggravated trafficking in drugs, drug abuse, possession of criminal tools and possession of drug abuse paraphernalia stemming from two cases that were brought forth in October and December of 1993.