Local News in Brief : Garden Grove : Jury Selection Begins in Death of Bicyclist

Jury selection began Thursday in the murder trial of a man whose car hit a bicyclist in Garden Grove last year after he allegedly led police on a high-speed chase.

Patrick Eugene Connolly, 25, a perfume salesman from Anaheim, is charged with second-degree murder in the April 7, 1987, death of Cesilio Ortega Roman, 19, of Anaheim.

Roman was leaving work that night from the Sizzler restaurant in the 13200 block of Harbor Boulevard when Connolly’s Mustang careened into his bicycle and killed him instantly, prosecutors said.

Connolly, who had been cited a half-hour before for speeding, had been trying to elude police when they tried to stop him again for speeding, prosecutors said.

Connolly, who allegedly drove with his lights off and ran several red lights, led officers from the Westminster and Garden Grove police departments on a 5-mile chase at speeds exceeding 100 m.p.h. Connolly’s blood-alcohol level at the time was measured at 0.11, police said. The legal limit for intoxication is 0.10.

Previously, Connolly had been cited twice for reckless driving in separate incidents involving police pursuits. In 1981 and 1982, prosecutors said, he was chased by police in Placentia at speeds exceeding 80 m.p.h.