Sheriff looks to public to find drivers in deadly Harrison Twp. pedestrian strike

UPDATE @ 10:30 p.m. (Jan. 23): The sheriff's office is still looking to the public for help in locating the two drivers involved in Tuesday night's pedestrian hit-and-run on North Main Street in Harrison Twp. that left a 17-year-old girl dead and a 23-year-old woman in serious condition.

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The teenager, Dyimond Wright of Dayton, was killed when one of the vehicles hit her. The woman, hit by a second vehicle, remains in a hospital.

“All of the vehicles involved in this fled the scene without stopping,” Montgomery County Sheriff Rob Streck said Wednesday.

“There’s little evidence at the scene. We’re reconstructing it, trying to put it together, but at this point, anybody who has any information about this accident ... they’re asked to call” (937) 225-HELP (4357) or Sgt. Rick Moebius at (937) 225-4217.

THE INVESTIGATION SO FAR

A preliminary investigation reveals the two were walking in the middle of North Main Street, near Carson Avenue, when they were hit about 9:34 p.m.

One was struck by a northbound vehicle in the left lane, and the other person was hit by a southbound vehicle in the left lane. One of the victims was hit by at least one additional vehicle as she lay in the street.

Wright died at the scene. The adult, whose name has not been released, was taken to a hospital suffering from life-threatening injuries.

Both of the vehicles that initially struck the victims did not stop.

The vehicles should have substantial front-end damage and one is missing a driver side mirror recovered at the scene. One of the vehicles is also possibly blue.

Streck said the sidewalks had snow and ice on them, but that wasn’t necessarily the reason why the victims were walking in the street.

“If (the drivers) would have stopped once they struck the victims, it could be a whole different story,” the sheriff said.

ACTIONS OF PEDESTRIANS, DRIVERS

“Once again, if people are in the middle of the road in an unlit area, there may not have even been charges filed, depending on what was going on and what the statements said and all that,” he said.

Once a driver leaves the accident scene, there are several different types of charges one could face, the sheriff said.

“We’ve got to get people to use sidewalks, cross at lights,” Streck said. “It’s just too dangerous out there. And we have multiple fatalities a year because we have people jaywalking at night with dark clothing on and are in areas that have no lighting.”

Most pedestrian crashes have proven to be the pedestrian’s fault, he said.

It’s “somebody deciding that’s where they want to cross and they think they can make it. Vehicles travel a lot faster than sometimes you realize. That mistake, that choice, could cause you to lose your life as we find out numerous times per year.”

ABOUT THE NORTH MAIN STREET CORRIDOR

According to the sheriff’s office,  there were 11 pedestrian strikes in Harrison Twp. last year. Three of those were deadly.

Following several fatal crashes last year on North Main Street, Streck said the state and county are doing a study of the North Main Street corridor to determine why there have been so may issues on the stretch.

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