A 41-year-old Port Orchard man was killed Saturday evening when he was struck by a car while riding on Mile Hill Drive, the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office reported.

Spokesman Deputy Scott Wilson said Craig Hitt was riding westbound on the 7300 block of SE Mile Hill Drive shortly before 6 p.m. when he was struck from behind by a 1992 Buick Century sedan, also westbound, driven by a 59-year-old Bremerton woman.

“According to the driver, the angle of the sun was affecting her vision, and she pulled over to make an adjustment,” Wilson said. “Apparently, the bicyclist was there and she did not see him, and hit him quite forcefully.”

Wilson said the victim was struck from behind and hit the car’s bumper, hood and windshield, and was severely injured.

He said when South Kitsap Fire and Rescue personnel arrived on-scene, they were able to locate a “heartbeat, but while en-route to South Kitsap High School to prepare the victim to be airlifted, he expired before they got there.”

Wilson said the victim was not carrying identification, and was not immediately identified after the accident.

Kitsap County Coroner Greg Sandstrom said he completed an autopsy Monday and was able to identify the victim as Hitt, and notify his parents, also Port Orchard residents, of their son’s death.

He said Hitt died of “multiple, blunt-force injuries to the head, neck, torso and extremities,” which he said were consistent with having been struck by a car.

Wilson said the accident is still under investigation, but so far there are no signs that the driver was impaired at the time of the accident, and any recommendation of criminal charges will be up to the traffic investigators.

“The report will be forwarded to the prosecutors,” Wilson said, explaining that in his experience “I can see where there would be a problem with the angle of the setting sun on that section of Mile Hill Drive; it might have obstructed her vision.”

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