Police on Tuesday night had arrested a person in connection with a bloody hit-and-run that killed a Bend cyclist before dawn Tuesday, Bend Police Capt. Jim Porter said.

A Bend woman died in the darkness about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday while riding her black Schwinn bicycle north on Third Street. Police have identified the woman, but would not release the name Tuesday night until they contacted her family. They also did not release the name of the person arrested, whom Porter said was ”hindering the investigation.”

Bend Police Lt. Ken Stenkamp said a newer silver Mercedes struck the woman from behind, killing her immediately. Police found a vehicle that appeared to be a Mercedes burning on China Hat Road late Tuesday morning, but Porter could not confirm whether it was the same one involved in the hit-and-run.

The hit-and-run closed traffic for roughly nine hours on Third Street across from Wendy’s between Reed Lane and Powers Road.

”It’s a horrific scene,” Stenkamp said, who searched for words to describe the accident.

Stenkamp described the woman as in her late 20s or early 30s. She wore no helmet and appeared to have no reflective material on her body or bike. The woman wore jeans, a blue jacket and a black fleece sweatshirt.

At this point, Stenkamp said police do not know if the driver purposefully hit the woman.

A city cleaning crew first reported the hit-and-run at 2:29 a.m., after hearing what sounded like a ”small explosion,” Bend Public Works Director Ken Fuller said.

Fuller would not identify the employees, but spoke on their behalf. He went to the scene soon after the hit-and-run was reported to help his employees.

The two employees had just started their shift, and they were cleaning a storm drain. They were parked on the northbound side of Third Street, north of Powers Road.

After hearing a crash, the employees shut down their equipment and saw someone lying in the street, Fuller said.

One of the employees called 911, and officers arrived at the scene soon after.

Police are still piecing together the details, but Stenkamp said the driver swerved onto Reed Lane after hitting the woman.

Fuller added that his crew saw the vehicle ”making evasive maneuvers, kind of wiggling, because something was on the windshield.”

The cleaning crew did not see the license plate number.

If caught, the driver could potentially be charged with hit and run, manslaughter, first-degree assault and criminally negligent homicide, Deschutes County District Attorney Mike Dugan said. But that all depends on the circumstances, such as if alcohol was involved.

”There’s a whole bunch of investigation that has to be done,” Dugan said. ”There’s obviously a hit-and-run involved.”

This is not the first hit-and-run case involving a cyclist.

In December 2004, a Washington motorist was arrested after he allegedly hit a bicyclist from behind on Reed Market Road and drove away, according to previous Bulletin reports. That September, a Bend woman was arrested for her alleged involvement in a hit-and-run that knocked one bicyclist unconscious.

In 2002, a Bend man was arrested on a hit-and-run charge at the intersection of Third Street and Butler Market Road. The year before, a 40-year-old Warm Springs woman was killed after a vehicle struck her at the intersection of Tenino Road and U.S. Highway 26 on the reservation.

Tuesday’s accident, however, may be the worst.

”It was pretty gruesome and horrific,” Fuller said, adding later that, ”It’s a very unfortunate event for Bend.”