Man clotheslined a bicyclist and fled — but a FitBit app gave him away, police say

And he might have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for that meddling FitBit.

The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office said it arrested 48-year-old Edward A. Shortnacy, whom they accuse of knocking down a bicyclist with his outstretched arm on the Washington and Old Dominion Trail in Virginia on April 22, Fox5 reported. Police say he was biking in one direction on the trail when he used his arm to strike an oncoming bicyclist's helmet and sent him tumbling to the ground.

The bicyclist suffered serious injuries that were treated at a nearby hospital, police told LoudonNow, and his assailant biked away.

But deputies with the Sheriff's Office told WTOP that they broke the case open with the help of the STRAVA fitness app. Using that information, police say, they were able to track the movements of Shortnacy and connect him to the assault.

Officers then conducted interviews with witnesses to confirm that Shortnacy was the suspect, they told WTOP.

He turned himself into police, WUSA9 reported.

He faces a charge of malicious wounding, according to Fox5, and was given a $5,000 bond, which he paid.

It's not the first time a FitBit has helped police make an arrest.

As reported by CNN, Connecticut police used the FitBit of a woman named Connie Dabate to charge her husband, Richard, with her slaying. The man told police that a man wearing a mask took him hostage and then killed his wife when she got home.

But his story and the data logs on her FitBit didn't line up, police say, and he now faces a murder charge. Richard Dabate denied the charges.

This story was originally published May 18, 2018 at 1:26 PM with the headline "Man clotheslined a bicyclist and fled — but a FitBit app gave him away, police say."