On February 23, at 10:53 p.m., the driver of a dark colored four-door vehicle (which police say may have been a Toyota, Nissan or Honda), hit two pedestrians at 371 Park Avenue and fled the scene. One of the women struck by the driver suffered from serious injuries to her head, neck, arms and shoulders after the impact of the crash caused her to get tossed into the air. When the victim landed on the car’s hood and fell to the ground, witnesses say the driver turned off the vehicle’s headlights and drove away. The pedestrian was admitted to UMass Memorial Medical Center-University Campus in critical condition.
The second woman involved in the Worcester hit-and-run accident was not badly hurt and did not go to the hospital to be treated for her injuries.
Police say that they are still trying to identify the driver who struck woman, and they encourage anyone with information about the hit-and-run accident to come forward anonymously.
Hit-and-Run Statistics
Unfortunately, hit-and-run accidents like the one on Park Avenue are far from uncommon. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) looked at pedestrian crashes that occurred between 1997 and 2006 and found that one in five people hit were killed as the result of hit-and-run drivers. In addition, during the years that the NHTSA studied, there were no fewer than 800 people annually who were struck by hit-and-run drivers around the country.
Source: “Worcester woman struck by hit-run driver in serious condition,” Feb. 24, 2012
