PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia police are searching for a driver who crashed a stolen car into another car stopped at a red light on Roosevelt Boulevard and left the scene while a passenger from the car died.
Shattered glass and broken car parts remained at the crash site near Rising Sun Avenue Tuesday morning, hours after the crash.
Just before midnight, police said, the driver of a 2021 Kia, traveling north on Roosevelt Boulevard at around 70 or 80 mph, disregarded a red light and rear-ended a 2006 Honda that was stopped there.
“He was speeding real quick. The way the impact was — it was pretty nasty,” said Elvin Gonzalez. He witnessed the incident from his parked car, which was hit by a spare tire lost in the crash.
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The Kia crossed over in the grassy median to the outer northbound lanes, flipping over at least three times, Gonzalez said, and the passenger was thrown out of the car.
“I tried to get over there to make sure he was all right, but after a minute he stopped breathing, so there was nothing I could do for him,” he said.
As the victim died, the driver managed to get away on foot, northbound along Roosevelt Boulevard, before officers arrived.
“Was able to get out of the vehicle, even though it had heavy damage, and he limped away,” said Chief Inspector Scott Small.
Police checked the Kia’s license plate and VIN and saw that the car was stolen a few days prior in the area.
Investigators are trying to identify both the driver and the victim. They managed to recover a couple of phones from the crash site and plan to scan through surveillance footage from the area.
The driver of the Honda is in stable condition at a hospital and is cooperating with police.
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