CAPITOL HEIGHTS, Md. — Security camera video appears to have captured a hit-and-run driver in a dark SUV who crashed into a woman trying to cross Walker Mill Road in Capitol Heights Monday evening. The woman died.
Prince George's County Police are appealing for witnesses to help them identify the vehicle and driver, as authorities grapple with an epidemic of hit-and-run pedestrian deaths in 2022.
Monday's incident happened just before 7 p.m. in the 6500 Block of Walker Mill Road. Video from a nearby business shows a woman who may be wearing reflective material on her clothing walking from a bus stop before attempting to cross to the Walker Mill apartments.
The woman stops and waits for traffic in a neutral area marked by yellow lines in the middle of the road. A street light appears to flicker, darkening the roadway. Seconds later, what appears to be a dark SUV strikes the woman and leaves without slowing. The woman died, according to police.
Walker Mill Road was crowded with traffic at the time, according to videos from two businesses reviewed by WUSA9.
Police have identified the woman but have not publicly released her identity.
On Tuesday, Prince George's County police also announced that the death of a pedestrian that occurred Nov. 12 near the intersection of Kenilworth Avenue and Greenbelt Road at about 11 p.m. was also a suspected hit and run. Their identity has not been released either.
Police say there have been nine pedestrians killed in hit and run incidents since the beginning of 2022; eight were killed in 2021 and seven died in 2020.
The incidents are notoriously difficult to solve, according to police.
Investigators are able to identify and charge drivers in less than 20% of fatal hit and run incidents, according to Capt. Ralph Parker, the Assistant Commander of the Prince George's County Police Special Operations Division.
"Witnesses are the most important piece," Parker said. "That information goes miles in solving these."