FARMINGTON HILLS — A 44-year-old Redford man died after a southbound car struck him on Middlebelt Road at approximately 10:45 p.m. July 25.

The bicyclist, identified as John Sallmen of Redford, was riding southbound near Linden, which is between Nine and 10 Mile roads, when a dark-colored southbound car hit him and kept going.

Sallmen’s sister, Colleen Sallmen, said her brother likely was on the way home from a friend’s house. Sallmen often rode his bike to his destinations.

“He was an avid bike rider. He was pretty fit,” she said.

She said her brother had been unemployed for six months, but just recently got a job as a cook at a local establishment. She said her brother, who began working at age 15, described those six months out of work as the worst six months of his life.

“He was happy he got back to a job,” she said. “He was supposed to get his first paycheck this week, and he was feeling pretty good about that.”

Sallmen was unmarried and did not have children.

A witness, another southbound motorist at the time of the crash, told police that a black Pontiac G6 passed the witness at a high rate of speed, returned to the southbound lane and hit the bicyclist. Farmington Hills Police Lt. Mike Ciaramitaro said during the morning July 26 that the investigation did not yet have information to determine Sallmen’s position — in the roadway, on the shoulder, etc. — at the time he was hit. Sallmen’s bike reportedly had a rear reflector and pedal reflectors.

Sallmen died at the scene, Ciaramitaro said. The Farmington Hills Police Department asks anyone who might have information related to the crash to call the department’s Traffic Safety Section at (248) 871-2630. After 4:30 p.m., call the department’s command desk at (248) 871-2610.

The department said the vehicle involved, either a Pontiac G6 or similar type of vehicle, might have scratches and dents to the front end and windshield damage.

The fatal hit-and-run crash was the second car-bike incident in three days. During the morning July 23, a motorist struck a youth approximately 12 years old at the Orchard Lake and 12 Mile intersection. The motorist stopped in that case.

“We had a young man who was traveling west across Orchard Lake on the south side of 12 Mile,” said Ciaramitaro.

“Southbound traffic began to go. They had a green light for Orchard Lake,” he said. Two vehicles began heading southbound as two brothers crossed in front of them.

“The kids were crossing against when they should have been crossing,” said Ciaramitaro.

He said the boy struck during the incident was OK. The department did not issue any tickets to the bicyclists.

You can reach Staff Writer David Wallace at dwallace@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1053.