US ex-bishop denies hit-and-run

Fr O'Brien resigned as bishop shortly after his arrest

A former Roman Catholic bishop of Phoenix accused of leaving the scene of a fatal accident has said at his trial that he never saw his victim.

Thomas O'Brien, 68, was speaking publicly about last June's incident for the first time.

He said he had simply felt something hit the windshield but never suspected it was a person and did not think about it till he had reached home.

Fr O'Brien resigned from his post shortly after being arrested.

No specific reason was given for his decision to step down.

The accident happened less than two weeks after the former bishop struck a deal to avoid being indicted for allegedly sheltering molesters among the clergy in a sex abuse case.

'Loud crash'

Fr O'Brien faces nearly four years in prison if convicted over the incident, which caused the death of 43-year-old carpenter Jim Reed on 14 June.

There were certainly feelings of regret, a deep profound sense of sorrow and sadness that I was possibly involved in the death of this individual Thomas O'Brien

He is not charged with causing the crash because the pedestrian was not obeying traffic rules.

The former bishop said he had felt a loud crash and saw that his windshield was damaged but did not see anyone.

"I would have stopped because that's the human thing to do," he said, "I couldn't imagine not stopping."

When he was finally told what had happened by police he found it hard to believe that his car was involved, he said.

Cover-up denied

"There were certainly feelings of regret, a deep profound sense of sorrow and sadness that I was possibly involved in the death of this individual," he added.

O'Brien saw his windscreen had been damaged

Earlier, lighting expert William Uttal testified that under the conditions it was plausible that Fr O'Brien had not seen his victim.

Days before the accident, the accused relinquished some of his authority as bishop in an unprecedented agreement with prosecutors to protect him from criminal charges for shielding priests accused of child abuse.

But he denied deliberately trying to cover up cases of sex abuse, which began emerging last year as allegations of years of priestly abuse in the US Catholic Church started mounting.

Correspondents say his arrest was greeted with dismay by American Catholics, who had hoped to put the scandals that have dogged their church behind them.