Car hits, kills pedestrian

A fatal auto-pedestrian crash yesterday morning claimed the life of a man who was attempting to cross Middle Road.

The victim, a 67-year-old of Filipino male whose identity is being temporarily withheld until the next of kin is notified, was pronounced dead upon arrival at the Commonwealth Health Center.

For most of yesterday morning, Middle Road was briefly closed by local law enforcement after the man was hit by a car along the pedestrian strip just across Pacific Hardware.

The driver stopped to check on the man despite rumors circulating that the incident was a hit-and-run. A video circulating on social media also appears to show the incident, soon after the car hit the victim.

Yesterday’s incident is believed to be the first traffic-related fatality of this year.

Both the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services issued separate news releases of the incident.

According to DPS, dispatch received a call at around 5:52am yesterday morning about an auto-pedestrian crash along the northbound lane of Chalan Pale Arnold, Gualo Rai, near Paradise Dental.

At the scene, officers spoke with a 66-year-old female who owns the red Toyota RAV4 Adventure that was reportedly involved in the crash. She told police that she was traveling northbound on Chalan Pale Arnold on the inner lane when she saw a pedestrian walking eastward from the Kid’s Playground building toward the Lin’s Hardware building.

The driver said that, while traveling northbound on the inner lane, she saw the pedestrian standing in the middle of the road, so she switched to the outer lane and that’s when she hit him—while she was switching lanes. The 66-year-old female driver sustained no injuries.

The victim was immediately transported to CHCC but was pronounced dead.

DPS says the case remains under further investigation.

DFEMS stated in its news release that it received the call reporting the auto-pedestrian crash at around 5:50am. At 5:51am, Medic-2 responded to the accident and arrived at the scene at 5:55am.

At the scene, first responders quickly treated the patient as fast as they could so the patient could be transported to the CHC Emergency Room.

“Sadly at 6:18am, the patient did not make it, and Dr. Matthew Nelson said it was due to blunt force trauma. The Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services expresses its sincerest condolences to the family of the pedestrian,” said DFEMS.