Oakland police have announced the arrest of a suspect in the hit-and-run death of renowned sociology professor Michael Burawoy.

Kermith Miller, 61, was arrested in Oakland and booked into Santa Rita Jail on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run causing death, according to court records.

He is being held without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Friday at 9 a.m. at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland.

Retired UC Berkeley sociology professor Michael Burawoy was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver near Lake Merritt in Oakland on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (Volodymyr Paniotto/Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Miller is suspected of hitting 77-year-old Burawoy while he was in a crosswalk at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Park View Terrace at about 7:15 a.m. on Feb. 3.

Paramedics responded to the scene and took Burawoy to a hospital, where the former professor at University of California, Berkeley was pronounced dead.

Burawoy “dedicated 47 years of his life to Berkeley, contributing immeasurably to the discipline, transforming the fields of labor, ethnography and theory,” according to a social media post by Raka Ray, dean of UC Berkeley’s Division of Social Sciences.

Ray said Burawoy was past president of the American Sociological Association and the International Sociological Association, the author of many scholarly books and a mentor and inspiration to thousands of students whose lives he changed with his “fierce intellect and kindness.

Kiley Russell writes primarily for Local News Matters on issues related to equity and the environment. A Bay Area native, he has lived most of his life in Oakland. He studied journalism at San Francisco State University, worked for the Associated Press and the former Contra Costa Times, among other outlets. He has covered everything from state legislatures, local governments, federal and state courts, crime, growth and development, political campaigns of various stripes, wildfires and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.