Louisville, Kentucky: Woman Killed in Hit-and-Run on Seventh Street Road in Taylor Berry

A woman was killed early Sunday in Louisville after a driver struck her on Seventh Street Road and left the scene, Louisville Metro Police said. The crash was first reported around 4:40 a.m. on November 1 in the 2700 block of Seventh Street Road, in the Taylor Berry neighborhood in south Louisville.

Police spokesperson Aaron Ellis said in a statement that officers determined the woman was struck by a vehicle as she stepped onto the roadway. The driver of the unknown vehicle did not stop to assist her, Ellis said. First responders pronounced the woman dead at the scene. WDRB and WAVE reported that the early investigation, along with a witness statement, reached the same account of how the crash happened.

A second crash a short distance away

The same vehicle kept going down Seventh Street Road after the first crash and collided with another vehicle a short distance away, Ellis said. The unknown vehicle left the scene of the second collision without stopping, and police said its whereabouts are unclear. The people in the vehicle that was struck in the second collision did not report any injuries, according to both the police statement and the WDRB and WAVE report.

Because the driver left both scenes, the case is being handled as a hit-and-run investigation. Police have not released a description of the vehicle they are looking for, and no arrest in this case had been announced in the reports published on Sunday.

The investigation

The Louisville Metro Police Traffic Unit has assumed control of the investigation into both collisions, Ellis said. The identity of the woman who was killed is expected to be released by the Jefferson County Coroner's Office. Until that release, police have not named her, and this report does not name her either.

Anyone with information about the crashes can contact Louisville Metro Police through its anonymous tip line portal, or by calling 502-574-5673, Ellis said. WDRB and WAVE listed the tip line as 502-574-LMPD and pointed readers to the department's online crime tip portal.

The second fatal hit-and-run in Louisville in two days

Sunday's crash was the second fatal hit-and-run involving a pedestrian in Louisville in about a day. Early on Saturday, October 31, a woman was struck on Bardstown Road near Grinstead Drive. Police later arrested Bryson Barber, 22, and charged him with murder and eight additional charges in that case. The coroner's office identified the Bardstown Road victim as Montazja Langley, who police believe was in her 20s. The charges in the Bardstown Road case are allegations, and that case will proceed through the courts.

The two crashes happened in different parts of the city and, in the reports published so far, police have not linked them. What they share is the part that matters most to investigators on Seventh Street Road: a driver who left. In the Bardstown Road case, police announced an arrest within the day. On Seventh Street Road, the vehicle was still unaccounted for when the Sunday reports were published, and the Traffic Unit investigation is continuing.