SDPD searching for white F-150 in fatal Logan Heights hit-and-run

San Diego Union-Tribune (CA)

San Diego police are searching for a white Ford F-150 pickup that fled after striking and fatally injuring a pedestrian last week in Logan Heights, authorities said Thursday.

San Diego County Crime Stoppers offered a $1,000 reward Thursday for information leading to an arrest in the deadly hit-and-run crash, which occurred around 11 a.m. last Friday, Nov. 15, on Cesar Chavez Parkway at Kearney Avenue.

Maria Estrada Romero, 52, was identified this week as the victim of the crash. Police said the San Diego resident was crossing Kearney Avenue on foot in a marked cross walk when the Ford pickup turned right from Cesar Chavez Parkway and hit her.

"The suspect did not stop to render aid or call 911," San Diego police traffic Sgt. Tim Underwood said in a statement Thursday. "The suspect fled the scene and was last seen driving northbound on Kearney Avenue."

A one-way northbound road, Kearney Avenue eventually becomes 19th Street and leads to entrances onto north Interstate 5 and east state Route 94.

Authorities said Estrada Romero was unresponsive when police arrived to the crash scene. Medics took her to UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest, where doctors diagnosed her with a bleed between her brain and skull, according to the Medical Examiner's Office.

Estrada Romero's condition worsened over the next two days, and doctors declared her dead at 1:40 p.m. Sunday, though according to a GoFundMe established to help her family with funeral expenses, she was taken off life-support Tuesday morning.

Police initially described the suspect pickup as a white Ford F-150 with a tinted back window and a white California sticker. Authorities added Thursday that the truck is a model year between 1997 and 2004, and has stock wheels.

Anyone with information about the crash, the truck or its driver was asked to call San Diego Police Department's traffic division at (858) 495-7800 or the Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (888) 580-8477.

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