A driver released by police after being questioned about his role in a hit-and-run that left an 80-year-old man dead Wednesday said in a television interview that he did not intend to hit the victim but “people hit-and-run people all the time.’’

Once released, Phocian Fitts, 23, told Boston 25 News that he was not concerned about any role he might have had in the crash, which happened at 12:50 p.m. in Allston and killed a retired high school teacher.

“Right now, I’m not worried about nothing, man, like I said, I’m not a stone-cold killer, I didn’t do nothing on purpose,’’ Fitts told the station.

“It just happened to be an unfortunate situation where I was driving,’’ he said. “I don’t take drugs. I wasn’t intoxicated.’’

Fitts was arrested at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday after investigators became aware of the interview, according to the Suffolk district attorney’s office. He pleaded not guilty Thursday in the Brighton Division of Boston Municipal Court to leaving the scene of a fatal crash and to motor vehicle homicide. Judge Myong Joun set bail at $10,000 cash. If Fitts posts bail, he will have to wear a GPS-locating device.

Fitts’s license was suspended by the Registry of Motor Vehicles following the crash on the grounds that he is an “immediate threat’’ to public safety if he gets back behind the wheel.

A South End man who was an arts teacher at Stoneham High School for about four decades was identified as the person killed in the hit-and-run. Theodore J. Schwalb, 80, was hit on Commonwealth Avenue near the Griggs Street Station on the MBTA’s Green Line, according to a report by Boston police.

Schwalb, who lived on West Springfield Street for many years and drove a convertible Mercedes Benz with a “TEDTED’’ vanity plate, was rushed to St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton, where he was pronounced dead, according to the report.

Early Thursday afternoon, Schwalb’s relatives gathered at his brownstone apartment in the South End, still reeling from the news of his death.

“He was a very beloved person,’’ said Schwalb’s younger sister, Brenda Star. “He had so many friends.’’

She declined to comment further, as did other relatives.

Schwalb, who retired in 2000, “inspired many [students] to be better people and artists,’’ said Donna Cargill, a former colleague and current principal of Stoneham High School.

Cargill recalled Schwalb with fondness in a telephone interview. “He was a funny guy who embraced life,’’ she said. “He was a character.’’

Schwalb was also someone who appreciated the handiwork of a skilled chef, she said.

“He was definitely a foodie,’’ she said. “He enjoyed good friends and good food.’’

In court Thursday, Assistant District Attorney Emily Hamrock said dashcam video evidence was used to identify the vehicle involved in the collision as a 2019 black Jeep Cherokee registered to Fitts’s mother.

And “video evidence’’ showed Fitts was the driver at the time of the crash, the police report stated. “The suspect motor vehicle appeared to accelerate towards the location of the incident at a speed greater than reasonable,’’ police wrote.

Fitts is due back in court on June 25.

In 2016, Fitts pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from his attack on a US Postal Service worker, the Globe has reported. The worker told investigators he kicked at an unleashed dog owned by Fitts’s mother in self-defense. Fitts admitted to retaliating against the mail carrier and was sentenced to time served.

Robert Correy who was among witnesses to Wednesday’s collision, said he saw the victim walking across the street and then “he started to jog.’’ At that point, he was struck by the SUV, which sent him 6 to 8 feet in the air, he said. The driver “never slowed down,’’ he said.

When police went to Fitts’s family home at Fidelis Way in Brighton on Wednesday, his mother acknowledged the car was hers and that her son was the last person to drive it.

She told the officers that her son was nervous and told her he “hit something.’’

The Jeep Cherokee’s passenger-side front fender and windshield were damaged, according to police, who seized the vehicle to be held as evidence.

Police took Fitts to the homicide unit at police headquarters, where he asked a detective whether he was being questioned “cause I left,’’ police wrote in the report.

Fitts also told Boston 25 News that he had been listening to music and “driving too quick’’ in the moments leading up to the crash. Fitts said he beeped his horn at the man crossing the street.

“As the guy was walking, the light is green, I’m driving and pressing the horn, pressing the horn, ‘beep beep beep beep’ — it was either I was going to die and crash into a pole when it came down to it,’’ Fitts told the TV station.

“So when it came down to it, man, accidents happen, man.’’

Emily Sweeney can be reached at esweeney@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @emilysweeney. John R. Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @JREbosglobe.