Woman Hit By 2 Cars In Weymouth Dies, Police Search For Hit & Run Driver
WEYMOUTH (CBS) – When 21-year-old Stephanie Harrington ducked into Lynn's Variety in Weymouth last night, she was hoping for a winning scratch ticket.
Instead, she lost her life when she stepped out of the store -- and into the path of a southbound car on busy Route 53.
"She was then propelled into the northbound lane, and struck by a second vehicle," says Weymouth Police Captain Joseph Comperchio.
WBZ-TV's Ken MacLeod reports
The young Braintree woman described by friends as a "sweet free spirit" died at South Shore Hospital early this morning.
Regular customers at Lynn's say this is a treacherous crossing point.
"It's tough," says customer Frank Austin. "You've got to take your time. You can't rush. And for people walking back and forth across the street it's real dangerous."
Harrington was sharing a pizza with friends at Cannoli's restaurant just across Route 53, when she decided to walk over to Lynn's and buy some scratch tickets just before 8:30 Tuesday night.
She was hit as she tried to return to the restaurant.
Thing is, the first driver who hit Harrington stopped.
"They are cooperating," says Capt. Comperchio. "At this point in time they're not going to be charged."
But the second driver to hit Harrington kept going.
Police are now trying to enhance surveillance video from two different cameras -- one on the storefront at Lynn's, and the other on a dentist's office across the street.
"But we're hoping the driver of that second vehicle will come forward on their own," says Capt. Comperchio, "to speak to us about what happened -- and tell us why they left the scene."
The accident happened almost right under a street light, on a stretch of road where police often run radar.
In fact, an officer ticketed one speeder as we watched this afternoon.
"That second car should have stopped," says customer Bob Ayala, "That's pretty sad a couple of days before Thanksgiving."
For now, though, police don't have a make, model -- or even a color -- on the hit and run vehicle that fled as Stephanie Harrington lay dying.
