Second person dies in hit-and-run; identities released
Police still searching for damaged white truck
One person died and two were sent to the hospital Sunday night after a driver struck three pedestrians with a pickup truck in Vancouver before fleeing the scene, according to Vancouver police.
Shortly after 8 p.m., witnesses told police, four people were walking north across Northeast Vancouver Mall Drive when a southbound pickup took a quick left turn from Northeast 72nd onto Northeast Vancouver Mall Drive, hitting three of the pedestrians. The pedestrians were in the crosswalk when the vehicle struck them.
One of the pedestrians died at the scene, one was transported to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, and a third was sent to a hospital with serious injuries, police said. The fourth person crossing the street, a child, was not hit by a vehicle or injured, according to police.
The victims’ names were not released Sunday night.
The truck is described as on older white pickup, possibly a Toyota Tundra. The front of the vehicle is damaged and some parts of its grill are missing, according to police. Additionally, police are looking for a black pickup truck that left the scene and may have struck one or more of the victims, too.
The intersection where the incident occurred was closed to traffic while the Vancouver Police Department’s traffic unit investigated. Those with any information about the incident are encouraged to call the 911 or the Vancouver Police Tip Line at 360-487-7399.
Kebala Dorn was in her apartment near the intersection when she heard the sirens. Several minutes later, she went outside to see what happened, she said, and saw a body under a sheet and a distraught boy sitting down near the scene.
She said she hopes police find the driver who struck the victims, calling the driver “the definition of a coward.”
“That’s really messed up,” Dorn said. “Nobody should have to go that way.”
