PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Police in Bucks County are searching for the driver of a pickup truck who ran over and killed a pedestrian in the parking lot of a McDonald’s and drove off.
It happened shortly after 4 p.m. on Sunday in Levittown, along Bristol Pike near Haines Road.
Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub said Jason Smith, 47 from Levittown, was in his car in the parking lot of the McDonald’s on Bristol Pike, when it looks like he got in some sort of argument with the driver of a gray Chevy pickup truck.
Smith parked his car alongside the McDonald’s. The driver of the pick-up backed into a parking spot.
Weintraub said Smith got something out of his car and started walking toward the truck.
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“The driver of the Chevrolet pickup truck runs Mr. Smith over, never stopping or slowing down, and exits the McDonald's parking lot heading towards Tullytown on Route 13,” said Weintraub.
Smith died from his injuries. An object was found on the ground by his body.
“We’re deducing that the object is the hammer because that's what's left aside of him as he lay on the ground,” said Weintraub. “But we can't really tell from the video that it was a hammer.”
Weintraub says the vehicle involved appears to be a 2013 Silverado four-door pick-up with a vanity plate on the front. The truck may be missing an oval-shaped black piece of trim that covers a fog light opening.
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Weintraub is asking the driver of the truck to turn him or herself in, as he says there could be a scenario where the driver of the truck feared for his or her safety.
“We have neither ruled out a legal self-defense claim, nor the belief that the driver leaving the scene due to immediate safety concerns may have been justified under the circumstances,” said Weintraub.
“Until we have all of the evidence and the information that we can possibly gather, including hearing from the person in the pickup truck, I want to reserve my judgment.”
But as he puts it, time is of the essence and the longer that person waits, the less it favors them.
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Patrick Kitchenman at 267-812-3056 or email pkitchenman160@bristolpd.org.