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.
1778. Albany, NY. Aug. 6. 57-year-old man critically injured when struck by a grey BMW sedan which fled the scene.
1779. Longview, Texas. Aug. 7. Pedestrian suffers life-threatening injuries after being struck by a dark-colored Pontiac Grand Prix which fled the scene.
1780. Stamford, Ct. Aug. 7. 46-year-old man suffers severe head injuries when struck by a vehicle which fled. Investigators collected evidence and they are examining recordings from video cameras in the area.
1781-3. Los Angeles. Aug. 7. Three men in their 20s injured when struck by a black, four-door Audi sedan which fled the scene “with a cracked windshield as the three men lay injured in the alley.”
1784. Medford, Oreg. Aug. 8. Five-year-old riding a bike suffered minor injuries when struck by a 1985-1995 baby blue Nissan extra cab, black primer on the bed, possibly an X-terra.
Related stories:
A 56-year-old man hid in a portable toilet and splashed himself with “liquid human waste” after allegedly plowing his Jeep into a Longview condo and fleeing the scene.
Brian Hickey, a Philadelphia writer who spent two months in the hospital recovering after being struck by a hit-and-run driver in Collingswood, N.J., in 2008, has since been advocating for changes to hit-and-run laws.
“People look at it as just an automobile accident, but . . . it’s totally flipping someone’s life in pieces or ending it, and to say that’s only worth one year’s punishment?” he said. “The punishment should be of commensurate value for what the impact was.”
And I quote (I)…
McGhee himself had consumed one alcoholic drink at home during the evening of July 25, according to police. McGhee left his township home about 9:30 p.m. to go to a local restaurant to pick up some food.
He left the restaurant about 9:45 p.m. and struck the girl at 9:54 p.m. as he was driving home, according to police, who said, McGhee arrived home shortly after the time of the accident.
Although McGhee drank that evening, police said there was “no evidence of intoxication prior to the accident.”
And I quote (II) …
SAN FRANCISCO — A 9-year-old boy’s medical condition has improved five days after he was seriously injured in a hit-and-run accident, a hospital spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Ryan White has been upgraded from critical to serious condition, said Rachael Kagan, a San Francisco General Hospital official.
And I quote (III) …
San Antonio police continue to look for a motorist who crashed into Ramon Zuniga Jr., 21, on the shoulder of Loop 410 East under Interstate 35 last August, and Crime Stoppers is offering a reward up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest.
The impact of the crash threw Zuniga’s body into the middle of the road, where he was struck by two more vehicles. Only the second car that struck Zuniga stopped to assist him, police said. The driver of the third vehicle could also face charges for failing to stop and render aid, police said.
And I quote (IV) …
A High Point man faces charges after officers with the Thomasville Police Department allege he was involved in a hit and run while sending a text message last week.
And I quote (V) …
The hit-and-run driver who left Mayor Bloomberg’s aide in a vegetative state has been sentenced to one-and-a-third to four years in prison for the crime.
Francis Jasmin received the maximum sentence allowed and a $1,000 fine for fleeing the scene of an accident after striking Erinn Phelan, 24, in February 2010. The judge also recommended that Jasmin’s driver’s license be revoked. Phelan, a Brown University graduate, was crossing Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn with her friend, Alma Guerrero, when Jasmin’s Acura Legend struck the women.
And I quote (VI) …
A Taunton man accused of running down a 17-year old skateboarder last week and leaving him for dead was ordered held on $100,000 bail today after a prosecutor described his six-page rapsheet and a driving record that was “one of the worst” he had ever seen.
And I quote (VII) …
CANOGA PARK, Calif. (KTLA) — Police have arrested a father and daughter in the hit and run crash that killed a 17-year-old bicyclist back in April.
And I quote (VIII)…
TAUNTON – Just hours after a driver fatally struck a teenage skateboarder on the side of Bay Street and drove away, Paul Baran was at home tinkering with the front of his car, drawing the suspicion of at least one neighbor.
And I quote (IX) …
Authorities are hoping the public can help them find the driver of a pickup truck that struck and critically injured a 45-year-old tourist from China, reports CBS News.
The man, who had just arrived to the U.S. with his family when he was hit on July 27, was crossing the street at Harbor Blvd. when a car ran into him. Footage from a motel parking lot has now been released that shows the driver pulling in, possibly looking back to where the man was hit, then pulling back out and speeding away. Damage to the front end of his truck can be seen on the tape.
And I quote (X) …
A 29-year-old San Diego man was arrested Tuesday afternoon following a vehicle pursuit that began on Interstate 15 near Adams Avenue and that involved a five-vehicle collision on the University Avenue off-ramp of Interstate 805, authorities said.
San Diego police took David J. Sais into custody on suspicion of felony hit-and-run, possession of a stolen vehicle and evading arrest.
And I quote (XI) …
Alexandria Castanon, 22, was killed when she was hit by a vehicle on July 23 when she was laying in the road, police said. The driver of the vehicle then fled the scene. Police believe there were three people inside the vehicle, described as a late ’90s model Chevy or Oldsmobile, light in color.
“I just want these people to come forward,” said Castanon’s mother, Tamela Steiner, 46, of Akron, Mich. “Be an honorable person, don’t be a coward and run. We lost so much when my daughter died.”
And I quote (XII) …
SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCIV) — Both of the men charged in the death of another man outside of a Summerville bar last weekend have criminal records. One of them had served time for a hit and run that resulted in the death of a St. Stephens teenager.
And I quote (XIII)…
A Reading teenager who was the subject of massive manhunts after he was charged with fatally shooting one man and wounding two others in the city has been captured in Florida, authorities said Tuesday.
Police had enlisted the help of U.S. marshals in finding Perkins, but they said he was found because of a hit-and-run crash involving a stolen car.
And I quote (XIV) …
ST. CHARLES TOWNSHIP — Prosecutors hope to prove that Timera Branch, angered by the way her 16-year-old son had been treated by a romantic rival at a dance party the night before, intentionally crushed the offending 17-year-old against the wall of an Elgin apartment building with her car. Then the son beat on the critically injured boy with a baseball bat, shouting to the victim, “Talk (trash) to me now, bitch!” as most of the blood in his body gushed out of a torn aorta and escaped onto the pavement through cuts that the car’s blow had ripped into his pelvic area.
Caught, convicted, court appearance or car-on-car in … Taunton, Mass.; Evansville, Ind.; Wheat Ridge, Colo.; Carbon County, Utah; Philadelphia; Omaha, Neb.; Sheboygan, Wisc. (Update); Preston County, WV; New York City; Kalamazoo, Mich.; Chicago; Frederick Co., Md.; Melbourne, Fla.; Azusa, Cal.; Montebello, Cal.; Ridgewood, NJ.
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.)