The Santa Ana Police Department is turning to the public in hopes of finding the driver or vehicle involved in a hit-and-run of two elderly pedestrians that left one of them dead early this morning.
The couple was standing at a bus stop on the northwest corner of McFadden Avenue and Center Street in front of the Southwest Senior Center just after 4:30 a.m. when a dark-colored SUV heading eastbound on McFadden veered into opposing lanes, jumped onto the north sidewalk and struck the bus bench and two pedestrians, according to police.
The SUV emerged onto Center Street, where it darted behind the senior center, pulled back onto McFadden and sped away westbound, say police. The couple was taken to a trauma center, where 72-year-old Santa Ana resident Dien Van Le passed away.
“The vehicle left behind several debris items that had identifiable markings on them,” states a police advisory. “An examination of these parts revealed that the involved suspect vehicle was a 1996-1999 Nissan Pathfinder (Dark; exact color is not available). A description of the driver is not available.”
Any information that can help identify the involved driver or the whereabouts of the vehicle is to be directed to Investigator Lauré Bao at 714.245.8214 or via email at LB**@sa*******.org. Anonymous tips can be left with Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855.847.6227 (855-TIP-OCCS), via occrimestoppers.org or by texting to 274637 (C-R-I-M-E-S) from a cell phone. (All text messages should begin with the letters “OCCS”.)
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.