Authorities asked the public Tuesday for help in identifying a woman who fled on foot after crashing her car into a parked SUV on a Lincoln Park roadside over the Memorial Day weekend, gravely injuring a 79-year-old man riding in her vehicle.
The woman was heading south in the 500 block of South 47th Street when the gray 2010 Mazda 3 she was driving veered to the right and struck the unoccupied SUV shortly before 5 a.m. Sunday, according to San Diego police. The driver got out of the damaged car and walked away, leaving behind her two passengers.
One of the men had been unrestrained in a back seat at the time of the crash and suffered severe head and neck trauma. He was hospitalized in critical condition and was not expected to survive his injuries, police said.
A 39-year-old man who had been riding in the front passenger seat suffered minor injuries.
The driver is described as a black woman who appears to be in her 50s. At the time of the accident, she was wearing heavily torn and frayed gray jeans, a long-sleeve purple shirt, black socks and no shoes. Surveillance cameras from a business she visited that night captured images of her.
Due to the severity of his injuries, the older passenger was unable to give police a statement, according to SDPD traffic-division Sgt. Victoria Houseman.
The younger man, for his part, told investigators he had only recently met the woman and “could not provide any information regarding her identity,” the sergeant said.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call San Diego County Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477 or contact the agency online at sdcrimestoppers.org. Tipsters may remain anonymous and could be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.
— City News Service