ROCHESTER HILLS (WWJ) -- A Florida woman who was a suspect in a string of car break-ins in Oakland County was killed by a hit-and-run driver while trying to avoid arrest, according to authorities.
The 30-year-old from Lauderhill was running across M-59, south of Livernois in Rochester Hills, just before 7:30 a.m. Friday when she was hit by a vehicle, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office said.
The pedestrian, whose name has not been released, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the vehicle, identified as a 42-year-old Macomb man, did not stop at the crash scene, but later turned himself in at the OCSO substation.
Officials said he told investigators thought he'd hit some debris in the roadway until he heard that a woman had been struck and killed.
According to the sheriff's office, the woman who died was part of a group allegedly involved in a series of larcenies from vehicles in the area.
The group was under surveillance Friday morning by the Troy Special Investigations Unit, and when detectives moved in to arrest the suspects in a parking lot, two men fled from their vehicle.
The men were arrested after a short foot chase, the sheriff's office said. However, while the men were being arrested the woman "was able to flee undetected" making her way onto M-59 where she was hit.
Eastbound M-59 was closed for nearly five hours following the incident, but has since reopened to traffic.
Anyone who witnessed this crash is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 248-858-4950.
