Drunk retired narcotics officer runs over and kills elderly Berkeley woman

Guillermo Robles, 56, of Berkeley was driving near Solano and Fresno avenues in North Berkeley at about 10:50 p.m. Sunday when he struck 82-year-old Betty Jean Kietzman, authorities said.

Robles was detained at the scene as Berkeley police investigated the crash. The department requested that the California Highway Patrol respond to the scene to avoid any appearance of favoritism, police said.

Officers gave Robles a series of field-sobriety tests, but details weren't available. He was being held today in lieu of $30,000 bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.

Robles was a 20-year department veteran who served as a patrol officer as well as an undercover narcotics officer before retiring in 2001, said Lt. Wes Hester, a department spokesman.

"It's unfortunate," Hester said. "We want to wish the victim's family well. We're very sorry to hear about this. It's a traumatic situation, regardless of who the suspect is, for someone to have to go through this type of mental torment. It's very difficult on anyone, certainly for an officer who spent 20 years enforcing the law."

Kietzman, who lived alone on Fresno Street, grew up in Berkeley and was known for her independence, a neighbor said.

She didn't have a car and was a familiar sight on Solano Avenue, a bustling thoroughfare of shops, banks, restaurants and the Oaks Theatre.

A neighbor who didn't want his name used recalled a conversation he had once had with Keitzman when he was at her house helping her pay some bills.

She told him, "I haven't been out of the house today and I'm really looking for some human interaction -- and you don't qualify," said the neighbor, adding that he didn't take offense.

"She lived an independent life on her own terms," he said. "She definitely was her own person and had her own thoughts about things."