A 60-year-old Detroit man was killed in a hit-and-run crash on Interstate 75 in Monroe County early on Friday, November 6, after he was struck while standing in the middle of the freeway's southbound lanes, the Michigan State Police said. The car that hit him fled the scene before troopers arrived, and state police are now asking anyone who witnessed the crash to come forward.
Source: MLive
Police were called at 6:19 a.m. on Friday to southbound I-75 near East Dunbar Road in Monroe Township, in Monroe County, for a report of a man standing in the middle of the southbound lanes, according to the Michigan State Police. While troopers were on their way to the area, they were notified that the man had just been hit by a car and was lying in the road.
Source: FOX 2 Detroit
What troopers found at the scene
Troopers arrived to find the man, aged 60 and from Detroit, had suffered fatal injuries in the crash. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The Michigan State Police have not publicly released his name in the reports issued so far, and they said it is unclear at this time why the man was standing in the middle of the freeway before he was struck.
The vehicle that struck him had fled the area before police arrived, turning the investigation into a hit-and-run case. No description of the fleeing vehicle had been released in the reports published as of Sunday, November 8, and no arrest had been announced.
Anyone who witnessed the crash or has information about it is asked to contact Michigan State Police Trooper Lehmann at 734-242-3500. Dashcam footage from vehicles travelling southbound on I-75 near East Dunbar Road at about 6:19 a.m. on Friday, November 6, could be critical to identifying the driver who fled.
Five agencies worked the closure
The freeway was shut down for several hours on Friday morning so police could investigate the crash, a closure that fell on one of the busiest freight and commuter corridors in Michigan. Assisting the Michigan State Police at the scene were Monroe Community Ambulance, the Monroe Township Fire Department, Monroe City Police, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office and the Michigan Department of Transportation, according to the state police account reported by MLive.
Why this stretch of I-75 matters
Interstate 75 is the main north-south interstate linking Detroit with Toledo and Ohio, carrying heavy long-haul truck traffic as well as commuters through Monroe County. For the many Punjabi and South Asian truck drivers who run the Detroit-Toledo corridor, it is a daily working road, and a full closure in the early-morning hours quickly backs traffic up across the county. The 6:19 a.m. call also came before sunrise in early November, in the darkest part of the morning for drivers heading south.
Michigan law requires a driver involved in a crash to stop at the scene, and leaving the scene of a crash in which someone is killed is treated as a serious felony offence. Investigators have not said what charges the fleeing driver could face if identified; that decision would follow the state police investigation and a review by prosecutors.
What happens next
The Michigan State Police investigation remains open. Troopers are seeking witnesses and any dashcam or surveillance video from the East Dunbar Road area around the time of the crash, and the identity of the driver who fled remains the central unanswered question. Police have also not yet explained why the Detroit man was in the travel lanes of the freeway, a point investigators said remains unclear. Anyone with information is asked to call Trooper Lehmann at 734-242-3500.