A man died on Detroit's west side after being struck by a car near Plymouth and Evergreen roads just after 9:30 p.m. yesterday, and the driver fled without stopping. Police say the man died from his injuries following the crash, and no arrests have been made.
According to ClickOnDetroit, an unknown car struck the man in the area of Plymouth and Evergreen roads, and the driver left the scene, per police. Officers have released no further details about the vehicle or the driver's identity. Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP or submit a tip through DetroitRewards.tv, the outlet reports.
A Corridor With a Troubled History
This isn't the first time this stretch of Detroit's west side has made headlines for a driver who didn't stick around. In February, a 20-year-old pedestrian survived a daylight hit-and-run at a bus stop near this same intersection, according to FOX 2 Detroit. That case ended with the March arrest of a 59-year-old unlicensed driver who admitted he had fallen asleep behind the wheel and was ultimately charged with a misdemeanor for failing to stop at a personal injury accident scene.
Just two days before yesterday's fatal crash, another pedestrian, a man in his 60s, was struck and killed in a hit-and-run a few blocks away near Plymouth Road and Rutherford Street. Metro Detroit News reported that witnesses described the vehicle, an unknown sedan, as traveling at high speed before the impact. Taken together, the two fatalities and the earlier bus-stop crash point to a recurring danger zone along the Plymouth Road corridor.
Pedestrian Deaths Climbing Statewide
Tuesday's crash also lands amid a documented statewide surge in pedestrian fatalities. Michigan State Police crash data released this month showed pedestrian deaths jumped 18 percent in 2025, climbing from 156 to 184, even as overall roadway deaths dropped 3 percent over the same period, according to CBS Detroit.
State crash data offers some context for the timing of Tuesday's crash. The Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning has found that the majority of fatal pedestrian crashes statewide occur between 6 p.m. and midnight, and that crossing outside of an intersection was the single deadliest pedestrian action in 2024, accounting for more than a third of pedestrian deaths. Whether the man struck near Plymouth and Evergreen was crossing at the intersection has not been disclosed by police.
Statewide Push, Local Grants Target Dangerous Streets
State officials launched the “SAFER by 2030” initiative in December, a framework aimed at cutting overall traffic fatalities 30 percent by the end of the decade through high-visibility enforcement and community outreach, per the same CBS Detroit report. Locally, Detroit's Department of Public Works has identified a High Injury Network of dangerous arterial corridors, where an average of 42 pedestrians and cyclists were killed or severely injured each year between 2017 and 2021, according to a 2023 analysis from Data Driven Detroit. The city has since secured $62 million in federal Safe Streets for All grant funding to redesign those corridors.
Countywide, Wayne County leads Michigan in overall crash volume by a wide margin, and unlit roadways have accounted for 1,664 traffic fatalities statewide between 2019 and 2024, according to an analysis published by Koussan Law. Dark conditions without street lighting account for roughly a quarter of all state traffic deaths, the analysis found. It remains unknown whether lighting conditions played any role in Tuesday's crash.
Fleeing drivers face steep legal exposure if caught. Under Michigan Compiled Laws Section 257.617, a driver who leaves the scene of a crash that causes death can face up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if they caused the collision, or up to five years and a $5,000 fine if they were not at fault. Michigan law requires drivers involved in injury or fatal crashes to stop, render aid, and notify police.
Detroit has seen a string of similar cases this year. Hoodline previously reported on a fatal hit-and-run near West Seven Mile in June and another in February in which a driver fled after fatally striking a woman on Joy Road. The trend also fits a national pattern: a March research brief from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that police recorded roughly 919,000 hit-and-run crashes across the U.S. in 2023, with about one in four pedestrian and cyclist fatalities involving a driver who fled the scene.
No description of the driver or vehicle involved in Tuesday's crash has been released. Police have not said whether the man was crossing at the intersection or elsewhere, and the investigation remains open as detectives seek tips from the public.
