Thomas Breen photo
Sgt. Brendan Borer at the scene at High and Elm.
A citizen followed a fleeing hit-and-run driver, and helped police find him hiding in the back of a Wooster Square pizzeria.
This latest car-pedestrian collision took place at the heart of Yale’s campus downtown at the corner of High Street and Elm Street at 3:12 p.m.
Two female Yale students were crossing Elm, not in the crosswalk, according to Lt. Herb Sharp.
One driver stopped in time not to hit them. A second driver, one lane over, apparently didn’t see them as they kept walking. This driver struck the women.
Then the driver continued driving, according to Sharp.
The taped-off scene of the collision.
Sgt. Brendan Borer and two other city police officers were on the scene minutes later, taping off the perimeter. Police closed all vehicle traffic on Elm Street between York Street and High Street.
Meanwhile, a driver who had witnessed the collision followed the fleeing motorist — all the way to Wooster Square, where the fleeing motorist parked in the lot of Abate Pizza, according to Sharp.
The motorist called police. Officers rushed over and found the driver hiding in the rear of the restaurant, which his father owns, Sharp said.
If the driver had stayed at the scene, he probably wouldn’t have been charged with an offense, Sharp said. Now he faces an evading-responsibility charge.
Sharp credited the officers’ “quick response” and “the critical role that the citizen played” for the arrest.
“We are having an uptick in pedestrian being struck. It’s really important for pedestrians to understand to cross in the crosswalk and to be mindful of the traffic,” Sharp said.
The two Yale students went to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Sharp. One injured her leg. The other complained of stomach pain.
Paul Bass contributed reporting.