OAK PARK, Mich. – An elderly woman is in custody after a 59-year-old Oak Park woman was killed in a hit-and-run crash, according to police.
The incident happened Monday (April 18) at 9:10 p.m. Police said a 59-year-old woman was struck by a vehicle in the area of Coolidge Highway and Burton Street. The woman is an Oak Park resident.
“We need to get this family some type of closure. You know, just to hit a person and continue to go . . . I actually, it’s inhumane. We need to talk to this person,” Det. Lt. Marlon Benson with Oak Park Public Safety said. “She was out for a walk, coming from one of the local stores and was crossing a crosswalk when she was struck by the vehicle.”
Police believe the vehicle involved in a red SUV that fled the scene.
When police arrived they found the woman lying on the roadway. She was conscious and alert and had a laceration to the back of her head. She told officers that she was having trouble breathing.
The woman’s sister-in-law was on scene and told police they were crossing westbound at the crosswalk when the red SUV went through a red light and struck the victim. The vehicle fled south on Coolidge.
The woman was transported to Beaumont Hospital. Officials said the woman died from her injuries at 11 p.m.
“It looks like that driver appeared that they knew they would have hit something, if not a person, something -- a larger object was struck. Where that person should have stopped,” Benson said.
As of 7:55 p.m. Tuesday (April 19), Oak Park police said they have an elderly woman in custody and the vehicle suspected to have been involved has been recovered. Police will be sending the information to the prosecutor’s office.
Read: More local news coverage