By: Mary Beth Almond, Brendan Losinski | C&G Newspapers | Published March 18, 2024
A 30-year-old woman from Florida was fatally struck by a motorist on M-59 in Rochester Hills the morning of March 15, according to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
The woman, of Lauderhill, Florida, was reportedly hit by an eastbound vehicle as she ran southbound across M-59, west of South Livernois Road, just before 7:30 a.m. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver, a 42-year-old resident of Macomb, did not stop at the crash scene, but later turned himself in to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office’s Rochester Hills substation. He told investigators he thought he had hit some debris in the road until he heard later that a woman had been struck and killed.
Police said alcohol or drug use by the driver do not appear to be a factor in the crash.
The woman was reportedly among a group involved in a series of larcenies from vehicles in the area who were under surveillance at the time by the Troy Special Investigations Unit.
When detectives moved in to arrest the suspects in a parking lot, two men fled from the vehicle they were in, but they were arrested after a short foot chase.
While police were placing the two males into custody, the third suspect, the woman, fled onto M-59, where she was fatally struck.
Three suspects from Florida were believed to be targeting vehicles in the parking lots of fitness and day care centers for theft in those communities. On March 15, the three suspects were observed breaking into multiple vehicles in the parking lot of a day care facility in the area of Livernois and M-59.
Once a theft was confirmed, officers blocked the suspects’ vehicle in a parking space to prevent a vehicular pursuit. southbound across M-59 west of South Livernois Road.
Charges were pending for the two other suspects as of March 15.
Anyone who may have witnessed the incident is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at (248) 858-4950.