Suspect identified in hit, run
By Gary Popp
Published in News on June 1, 2011 10:22 PM
A suspect has been identified in the hit-and-run at the intersection of Ash and Kornegay streets that brought traffic to a halt Monday evening.
Police investigators would not release the name of the suspect this morning, but said he was driving a rental car during the accident.
The suspect is the boyfriend of a woman who had rented the car from A&A Auto Rental on North William Street, police said. She also was not identified.
Both the man and woman could be charged, police said.
Witnesses stated to police that the man left the accident scene in the passenger car and parked the car at a Kornegay Street address. The man then fled from the car on foot, according to witness statements.
The victims in the accident were a 17-year-old woman and a 10-month-old child, both of whom were treated and released at Wayne Memorial Hospital.
The sport utility vehicle driven by Jalissa Buie, 17, of Smithfield was struck hard enough to flip it over. She was traveling west on Ash Street when a car driven by the suspect headed south on North Kornegay Street, ran a stop sign and struck the SUV in the side, according to witnesses.
One witness followed the car to an apartment complex in the 400 block of North Kornegay Street, where the driver abandoned it and ran off.
The woman who was identified as the one who rented the car told police at the scene that she had intended to report it as stolen.