Bicyclist charged with negligent homicide granted bail

MANCHESTER, NH – A bicyclist who police charged with negligent homicide after they said he struck and killed a pedestrian in an Elm Street crosswalk last year will be released from bail if he posts $200 cash, a judge ruled Monday.

Eric Earle, 25, who was homeless at the time of the May 13, 2021 incident, is currently being held in preventive detention in the Valley Street jail.

Assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Tom Craig, during a bail hearing Monday in Hillsborough County Superior Court Northern District, asked that Earle continue to be held without bail.  He said a witness told police that the day of the collision Earle was moving quickly down the street, didn’t stop for a red light and struck the pedestrian in the crosswalk.  The man hit his head on the pavement and died, the prosecutor said.

The collision occurred about 7 p.m. on Elm Street, across from City Hall.

Public Defender Brian Civale said the incident was “very much a tragic circumstance.”

Civale said the pedestrian, identified only as “C.A.” in court documents and who police said was a 69-year-old man, stepped out from behind a pickup truck and Earle “didn’t see him.”

The pedestrian, he said, had been looking over his shoulder talking to another person when the collision took place.

“Mr. Earle is quite broken up about it because it was very much an accident,” Civale said.

He said Earle stayed on the scene and there is no indication in police reports that he was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Civale also told the judge that initially the county attorney’s office said no charges were warranted in the case.

Craig said, however, the investigation continued, and the indictment was brought after police interviewed a witness who said Earle had a red light.

Should Earle post bail, he is to follow all the rules of the road and not drink any alcohol or ingest illegal substances.

If convicted, Earle faces a maximum sentence of 3 ½ to 7 years in state prison.