Driver Arrested In Fatal Hit-And-Run In Hammond
HAMMOND, Ind. (CBS) -- A driver was in custody Tuesday, after a hit-and-run collision in Hammond, Ind., killed a 28-year-old man who was crossing the street in northwest Indiana over the weekend.
The driver of the car, a 44-year-old East Chicago man, was arrested in Portage and taken back to the Hammond Police Department, according to a police report.
No criminal charges had been filed as of Tuesday morning, though the suspect reportedly admitted being involved in the crash.
At about 6:25 p.m. Sunday, Joseph Burton of Hammond was crossing the street on the 900 block of Michigan Street in Hammond, when he was struck by a 2001 Pontiac Grand Am, police said. Burton was knocked out of his shoes upon impact and a woman who was holding his hand at the time was knocked over.
The woman told police she believed the car was driven by an ex-boyfriend, police said.
She told police she was walking east in the street toward Columbia Avenue at the time. The woman said the car was going toward Columbia and she believed it could have been driven by her ex-boyfriend.
A second witness, who lives on that block, told police she heard an engine accelerating but did not see anything.
Burton, of 5412 Howard Ave. in Hammond, was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 9:59 p.m. Monday, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
(The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.)
