SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Police said the driver who struck and killed a pedestrian early Wednesday morning may not have realized they hit somebody.
The victim’s body was discovered shortly before 3 a.m. on a MacCorkle Avenue overpass near Hardee’s and Dow Chemical. Investigators are unsure which way the victim was walking or which way the motorist who struck him was driving. The person who reported the discovery originally believed it was a deer in the road, but upon closer inspection saw it was a man and called 911.
“It’s not the greatest place for pedestrians to begin with and it was dark and raining hard so the conditions were not the best for people to see,” said South Charleston Police Lt. Pat Rader.
Rader said there was no debris from any vehicle at the scene which would give any indication about the make, model, or color of the vehicle.
“We don’t think there was anything criminal here, it’s possible the driver might now even have known they hit somebody,” he explained.
Police have identified the victim, but have not released his name pending notification of relatives. Rader said the man was from out of state and was actually wanted in neighboring Virginia.
Police are looking at video surveillance from nearby businesses in hopes of getting some indication of who the driver in the incident may have been. They’re also asking anybody who may have been in the area in the overnight hours from Tuesday night and Wednesday morning and may have hit something in the road or seen something to give them a call.