Richmond police say they have identified the pedestrian killed in a hit-and-run on East Main Street on Friday, November 6, 2026, and arrested the driver who allegedly left the scene — a case built, investigators say, on video collected from nearby businesses and on tips from the public.

Source: Richmond Police Department

At approximately 10:17 a.m. on Friday, officers were called to the intersection of East Main and 21st streets for a report of a hit-and-run involving a pedestrian, the Richmond Police Department (RPD) said. Officers arrived and found an adult man, identified as Harry Laverty, 75, of Richmond, down and unresponsive in the roadway of East Main Street. He was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The driver of the striking vehicle had left the scene before officers arrived, police said. No description of the vehicle has been released in the department's statement.

How investigators found the driver

The RPD Crash Team responded to investigate. Crash Team investigators collected video from nearby businesses and used other investigative techniques to identify the vehicle and the driver, the department said.

Source: NewsWatch report of the RPD investigation

Investigators arrested John Mcsparren, 47, of North Chesterfield, and charged him with felony hit and run, police said. His booking photo was not yet available when the department issued its statement. The charge is an allegation: Mcsparren has not been convicted of any offence in this case and is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

The department publicly thanked the people who came forward with information about what it called "this tragic collision," saying their information assisted investigators.

A wider pedestrian-safety problem in Richmond

Laverty's death is not an isolated case in Richmond this year. In February 2026, a 23-year-old magazine editor, Hope Cartwright, was killed in a downtown hit-and-run while crossing in a crosswalk, and Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards said at the time that she was the fourth pedestrian killed in the city in 2026 — a figure the department reached before the end of winter.

In late October, Mayor Danny Avula issued a statement after another fatal pedestrian crash on Semmes Avenue, calling it the second pedestrian death in the city in just over a week. The mayor said he had asked his Chief Administrative Officer to consider immediate actions to increase safety, including at the downtown intersection of East Broad Street and 10th Street, where a pedestrian had been hit and killed while crossing in a crosswalk.

Virginia law requires a driver involved in a crash in which a person is injured or killed to stop at the scene, report the crash and render reasonable assistance; a driver who leaves can face a felony hit-and-run charge, the charge police say Mcsparren now faces.

What happens next

Police have not announced a court date for Mcsparren, and the department's statement does not say whether any additional charges are being considered. The Crash Team's investigation remains open, and RPD says it is still gathering information about the collision at East Main and 21st streets.

East Main Street is one of Richmond's main east-side corridors, carrying commuters, buses and neighbourhood traffic through the city's East End — the kind of wide, busy road where Richmond's pedestrian deaths have repeatedly occurred this year.