Herbert Fielding, of Charleston, was charged Wednesday in a Nov. 24 hit-and-run collision that left a pedestrian dead on Sam Rittenberg Boulevard in West Ashley.
An investigation by Charleston Police Department determined Fielding, 68, as a suspect, and he surrendered to authorities this morning, according to a department press release. He is being held at Al Cannon Detention Center, charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. He’s expected to face a bond court judge at 2 p.m. today.
Charleston Police Department officials said last week that a driver traveling north on Sam Rittenberg Boulevard at 10:38 p.m. reportedly struck a pedestrian in the area near Downing Street before leaving. The pedestrian, identified by the county coroner as 63-year-old Raul Perez, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Fielding previously ran for political office at least two times, most recently for the open Charleston County coroner seat in 2020, when he was defeated by Bobbi Jo O’Neal. Before that, he ran for the Charleston County School District Board of Trustees and the South Carolina Senate — where his father served a term in the late 1980s.
Charleston police say the hit-and-run was the 17th traffic fatality investigated in 2021 — the sixth pedestrian fatality.
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