Two people killed in hit-and-run crashes in Philadelphia over the weekend

Two people were killed in hit-and-run crashes within hours of each other Sunday night in Philadelphia, part of a growing surge of hit-and-run fatalities in Philadelphia. Police haven’t made arrests related to either deadly incident.

At around 5:40 p.m. Sunday, a car struck and killed a 43-year-old woman on the 600 block of Oregon Avenue in the South Philadelphia section of the city, police said. The woman had been crossing Oregon Avenue from the south sidewalk to the north sidewalk when a person driving eastbound in a silver SUV hit her.

The woman, whom police later identified as Savoun So, of the 2700 block of Randolph Street, was pronounced dead at the scene.

In a news conference Monday afternoon, Capt. Mark Overwise, of the department’s Crash Investigation Division, said that parts of a side-view mirror had been recovered and that the car, described by witnesses as a small SUV or hatchback, would likely be missing its left side-view mirror.

Hours later, at 8:33 p.m., a 31-year-old man was riding a bike on the 1900 block of North Howard Street in the Kensington section of the city when a driver in a white box van fatally hit him, police said. The van’s driver fled northbound on Howard Street.

The driver of the white van, which police said may be a Ford Econoline, was traveling east on Berks Street and hit the man, whom police later identified as Edguardo Rosario Jimenez, of the 1900 block of North Mascher Street, when the driver turned the van left onto North Howard Street. Jimenez was traveling west on Berks Street and he and the van collided “head-on” in the intersection of Berks and North Howard Streets, said Overwise.

Jimenez was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:45 p.m.

Police released photo and video of the white van, pointing out damage to the right front fender that existed prior to the fatal hit-and-run and the lack of windows on either side of the cargo area, and asked the public for assistance.

There was no evidence that erratic driving or speeding were factors in either of the two crashes, said Overwise. Both victims were blocks away from home when they were killed, he said.

Overwise called on the drivers to turn themselves in, saying that their decision to leave the scene was a crime.

“I would encourage each one of these drivers to turn themselves in. To show everybody that they have a little respect and compassion for human life and that it’s not what it appears to be, that they just fled callously,” he said.

The two unsolved hit-and-runs come in the wake of a grim, record-setting year, where hit-and-run fatalities rose to a record 31, triple that of 2019.

Drivers fled the scene in one out of four of 117 fatal car crashes recorded in 2022 up until mid-December, police records show.

Late last month, police issued an arrest warrant for Jovan Lowe, of Strawberry Mansion, for allegedly killing Julia Mae Abraham, 78, in a fatal hit-and-run in West Philadelphia. Lowe was allegedly driving a stolen white Jeep Grand Cherokee when he plowed into the driver’s-side door of the parked Mercury that Abraham was sitting in.

Lowe then fled the scene of the crash.

Also last month, police were searching for the driver of a black Dodge Charger that had fatally hit a 50-year-old man who was crossing Lehigh Avenue at the crosswalk in Kensington.

Once again, the car left the scene of the crash. The pedestrian was taken to Temple University Hospital and pronounced dead shortly after.

The city of Philadelphia was offering a $10,000 reward for each fatal hit-and-run from Sunday for information leading to an arrest and conviction. Anyone with information is asked to to call the Crash Investigation Division at 215-685-3181.