An ongoing collection of unsolved hit-and-run cases, with a focus on car/pedestrian incidents, from across the country since Jan. ‘010. If you know something about any of these incidents, or one that I’ve missed, do the right thing and call the police, even anonymously.
3078. Overland Park, Kansas. Oct. 23. 35-year-old woman struck and killed by an unidentified vehicle which fled the scene.
3079. East Hampton, NY. Oct. 23. 61-year-old man struck and killed by an unidentified vehicle which fled the scene.
3080. Sumter, SC. Oct. 25. 70-year-old woman struck and killed by a small white car — possibly a Mustang — which fled the scene.
3081. Suwanee, Ga. Oct. 26. Man injured when struck by a white or light-colored tractor and trailer, with a sleeper cab, which fled the scene.
3082. Portland, Ore. Oct. 25. Man injured when struck by a four-door green sedan which fled the scene.
3083. Mt. Pleasant, Wisc. Oct. 24. 15-year-old girl injured when struck by a red Pontiac which fled the scene.
3084. Methuen, Mass. Oct. 24. 33-year-old man injured when struck by a darkly colored, older-model, mid-sized vehicle which fled the scene.
3085. Missoula, Montana. Oct. 26. Bicyclist injured when struck by a silver car which fled the scene.
Related stories:
And I quote (I)…
Several days later, Tabitha Lucas of Quincy, Ind. admitted to police that she had been driving through Cunot with her then-husband that night and had hit Bottoms. She told authorities she stopped her car a few yards away and walked back to find a crowd gathering around Bottoms. She said she then panicked and left.
Lucas also told authorities that her father Mark Blake and her husband William Lucas replaced the windshield broken in the crash and tried to burn the glass.
In May 2012, Lucas pleaded guilty to Leaving the Scene of a Fatal Accident. Officials said the plea was not part of a plea agreement.
On Tuesday, Lucas appeared in an Owen County Courtroom for sentencing. Members of Bottoms’ family asked the judge to give Lucas the maximum sentence of eight years in prison.
“On January 22, 2011, a lying coward killed our son,” said Terry Bottoms. “She deserves the maximum of eight years.”
Prosecutors argued that the emotional, physical and financial cost to Bottoms’ family were cause for a more severe sentence. Lucas’ defense, however, argued that Lucas had not been charged with causing the boy’s death but with fleeing the scene afterward.
“Should she have stayed? Absolutely,” Lucas’ attorney told the judge. “She feels terrible about it. She’s been on medication for depression.”
In the end, the judge gave Lucas a six-year sentence, with four years suspended and two to be spent in prison.
And I quote (II)…
BETHESDA, Md. A Virginia woman is in custody for an attempted hit-and-run outside the entrance of Walter Reed Hospital that led a Naval officer to fire a shot at her.
And I quote (III)…
WATERBURY — A teenage boy died Tuesday afternoon from injuries police say were caused by a hit-and-run driver who was arrested later in the day.
And I quote (IV)…
A Department of Transportation truck driver who killed 21-year-old Manhattan pedestrian Roxana Sorina Buta was not issued a summons or charged for leaving the scene, and could be behind the wheel today, according to a lawsuit filed by the Buta family.
Cristina Oprea, Buta’s mother, claims that Buta’s death resulted from negligence on the part of the city, DOT, the Department of Design and Construction, Mack Trucks, and the driver, according to DNAinfo and the Post.
And I quote (V)…
A man wanted by Madison police for a hit-and-run crash bit a Monona police officer while being taken to jail on Sunday, authorities reported.
Anthony Celley, 30, of Monona, was tentatively charged with a fourth alleged drunken driving offense, battery to an officer, resisting arrest and criminal damage to property, Monona police said in a news release.
And I quote (VI)…
A hit-and-run arrest led Eunice police to arresting a convicted sex offender. Police say Tina Durgon drove her car into a truck in the 600 block of West Walnut Avenue before leaving the scene. She was arrested when she returned to the area. Investigators say Durgon told officers she needed to check on her son because he had just been dismissed from school. When officers arrived at her residence, they found a registered sex offender, Kennen Sinegal, there with the child. Durgon admitted to altering Sinegal’s state ID card by coloring over his sex offender status. Both Durgon and Sinegal face multiple charges.
And I quote (VI)…
PORTLAND, Maine — The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday unanimously upheld the conviction of Garrett Cheney in the hit-and-run death of a University of Maine student in January 2010.
Garrett Cheney, 24, of South Berwick was sentenced Dec. 7, 2011, to 15 years in prison, with all but seven years suspended, for manslaughter in the death of Jordyn Bakley, 20, of Camden.
And I quote (VII)…
PHOENIX — Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne is facing a misdemeanor charge for his alleged role in a hit-and-run.
The Phoenix Police Department announced on Wednesday that Horne has been cited for leaving the scene of a collision/unattended vehicle.
And I quote (VIII)…
As police continue to search for clues in the hit-and-run death of 85-year-old Bessie Manning on Oct. 14, her family is pleading with the public to come forward with information concerning the grandmother’s death.
The victim’s grandson, Melvin Manning, 26, of Austin, urged witnesses not to be caught up in the “no snitching” street code.
And I quote (IX)…
The 77-year-old woman struck on Kennedy Boulevard on Oct. 12 by a hit-and-run driver who police say was drunk remains in critical condition, but there are signs of progress, authorities said.
And I quote (X)…
Griffin told the American-Statesman that the upgraded charges were a welcome development that caught her by surprise.
“I was shocked,” she said. “I couldn’t help it, I just started crying. I’ve been praying for that for 18 months.”
Previously, Nestande, a 25-year-old former legislative aide, could have faced a maximum of 10 years in prison; now, if convicted, she could face 20 years for each charge.
“It just felt that things had not gone right since day one,” Griffin said. “We always felt this was a more serious crime, but the problem was evidence.”
And I quote (XI)…
Huggins allegedly parked on a side street and left her four-year-old daughter in the car with the child’s father when she ran. Police say her daughter was also injured.
And I quote (XII)…
A Hatfield man will have to spend another 10 days behind bars for striking a pedestrian with his van and then driving to his workplace, leaving the victim’s crumpled but breathing body in the middle of a Towamencin road last year.
Mukesh K. Shah, 56, of the 100 block of West Vine Street, on Thursday was sentenced to 15 days to 23 months in the Montgomery County prison and to an additional one-year probation sentence after he completes his parole time.
And I quote (XIII)…
A Houston municipal court judge is accused of hitting a woman with her car, fleeing the scene and trying to cover up evidence by wiping away fingerprints from the roof of her vehicle.
Harris County prosecutors have filed two felony charges against Judge Gladys Toney Bransford, who allegedly hit the woman with her car Monday in a southwest Houston parking lot.
And I quote (XIV)…
A Medford man who sped away after plowing into a group of juveniles walking along Lozier Lane in August will spend more than three years in prison after pleading guilty to felony hit-and-run charges.
Othon Campos Jr., 42, entered his guilty plea Wednesday in Jackson County Circuit Court.
And I quote (XV)…
The man convicted of felony hit and run in the March wreck that killed a Lynchburg man as he rode his bicycle on 12th Street must spend a year in jail, a judge ruled Friday.
Lynchburg Circuit Court Judge Mosby Perrow sentenced Jeremy Jarry, 22, to five years in jail with four years suspended, for not stopping at the scene of the wreck that killed Michael Jones.
Caught, convicted, court appearance or car-on-car in … Eugene, Ore.; Grand Junction, Colo.; Seattle, Wash.; Provo, Utah; Corpus Christi, Texas; Downey, Cal.; Corpus Christi, Texas, Bryan, Texas.
WTVM.com-Columbus, GA News Weather
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More hit-and-run stories, including every volume of Hit-and-Run America (in reverse order), are accessible from this linked page. (The full Volume-by-Volume list will appear sporadically from now on.)