ROCKVILLE, Md. — A man was hit and killed by a car in Montgomery County Thursday night while trying to cross Rockville Pike, according to police. His death marks the eighth pedestrian hit in three days and second one killed in the county.
Police have identified the man as 32-year-old Brett Richard Badin, from Rockville.
Police said at around 6:33 p.m., he had crossed the three northbound lanes successfully and was trying to make it across the three southbound lanes, near the IHOP, when a 2014 Honda Accord hit him, traveling southbound toward Wootton Parkway.
The driver has been identified as 61-year-old Kathatorn Nonceeya from Rockville, according to police. Officials said he remained on the scene. Neither he nor his adult female passenger were injured in the crash, according to police.
A witness said first responders provided CPR, but they were unable to save him.
“When I walked down here, they already had the gentleman undressed, and it was a lot of blood coming out," said Shay Toure, who witnessed the aftermath. "I was probably out here for 10 minutes, and after I saw that they weren’t going to be able to resuscitate him, I went back inside.”
Shay Toure said he had passed by two deadly crashes this week.
He was driving down Rockville Pike Wednesday when he saw the wreckage from the first fatal pedestrian crash of the week.
Michael Gamboa, 40, from Gaithersburg, was hit and killed by a 2011 Nissan Sentra near the TGI Friday's, less than two miles away from this most recent accident. That crash happened around 8:41 p.m., according to police.
Police identified the driver of the Sentra as 28-year-old Adam Moche Aseraph, who they said remained on scene after the crash. Officials said he was driving southbound on Rockville Pike, when he hit Gamboa as he was trying to cross.
Police said
“It’s tough to see," said Toure. "No one wants to see that.”
The numbers seem high, but data analyst with the county, Wade Holland, said January is often a dangerous month for pedestrians, at least in part because of how dark it gets during rush hour.
Holland said, on average, 40 to 50 people are hit by a car in Montgomery County each January.
For the past couple of years, the county has been working on its Vision Zero plan, the goal of which is to make the streets safer in the long-run.
The short-term can be a bit more difficult to deal with, said Holland.
“Our engineers…They go out and make sure something isn’t immediately failing," said Holland. "But with Vision Zero, it’s really a marathon. If we go out and walk around with our shovel and try to chase the most recent crash, we’ll never get to zero. It’s really being systematic…and figuring out what do those roadways look like in a safer environment.”
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Police said they are still investigating what happened in this week's cases. But, county data from 2019 shows that while most pedestrian crashes involved a car hitting someone in a crosswalk, there was a higher percentage of fatal or serious injuries for those who walked across the road at an area that wasn't an intersection.
Police also mentioned that these crashes are not always the driver's fault. They said people are often on their phones, wearing dark clothing at night, and not paying attention to cars. They said this trend will only stop if drivers and pedestrians pay better attention and work together.