After the Chronicle spilled the beans on Chris Bucchere's felony vehicular manslaughter charges, District Attorney George Gascón held a press conference to elaborate on the case his office has been building against the "grossly negligent" bike rider. As Gascón told the press this morning, it was Bucchere's "need for speed" that led to the unnecessary tragedy.

As evidence of the Maverick behavior, Gascón implied that Bucchere was "trying to break his own record" on his morning ride that morning — hinting at the competitive nature of the Strava GPS tracking app and Bucchere's own Internet posts on the day of the incident.

As one SFist commenter noted, the DA's office is not basing their case on specific speed estimates from the surveillance footage and GPS data, as Matier & Ross speculated over at the Chronicle. Instead, the District Attorney is relying on testimonies from a handful of witnesses. One such witness was apparently a cyclist who stopped at the same light that Bucchere contends he lawfully entered.

For the defense, Bucchere's attorney Ted Cassman said his client is still cooperating with the investigation, but declined to give a statement this morning.

Previously: Cyclist Who Killed Castro Pedestrian Slammed With Felony Charges, All Chris Bucchere/Castro Cyclist coverage on SFist.
[CBS5]