A woman believed to be in her 40s was killed while walking near the intersection of 73rd Avenue and Garfield Avenue in East Oakland after a driver struck her and fled without stopping. Police say the vehicle was heading northbound on 73rd Avenue when it hit the woman, who was pronounced dead at the scene. As of today, officers had not located the vehicle, nor had they received any description of it or the driver behind the wheel.
According to The Mercury News, authorities have not determined whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the collision, and the Alameda County Coroner's Bureau is still working to identify the woman and reach her relatives. Oakland Police Department traffic investigators are asking anyone with information to call 510-777-8570. The case adds another name to a stretch of East Oakland asphalt that city planners have flagged for years as one of the most dangerous in Oakland.
A Corridor With a Documented History of Speed and Severe Crashes
The block where the woman died sits within the mile-long stretch of 73rd Avenue between MacArthur Boulevard and International Boulevard that the City of Oakland placed on its 2024 High Injury Network, the roughly 8 percent of city streets responsible for 60 percent of the city's severe and fatal crashes, according to the City of Oakland Department of Transportation. Municipal traffic safety records show 161 injury collisions along the corridor between 2019 and 2023, including 10 that resulted in death or serious injury, with unsafe vehicle speed cited as the primary factor in 27 percent of those cases.
City officials have tried to slow drivers down on the stretch. Automated speed cameras were installed near Markham Elementary and the Eastmont Transit Center under California's AB 645 program after pre-installation monitoring found that 18.5 percent of drivers were exceeding the posted limit by 10 mph or more, per Speed Cam Alert. In February, OakDOT announced plans to pursue at least $75 million in county, state and federal grant funding to redesign 73rd Avenue along with West Grand Avenue and Hegenberger Road, as reported by The Oaklandside. Those physical redesigns remain pending.
A Pattern of Fatal Hit-and-Runs on the Same Street
This is not the first time a driver has fled the scene of a deadly crash on 73rd Avenue. In September 2023, pedestrians Derrick Shaw, 64, and Vera Hampton, 67, were killed at 73rd Avenue and Holly Street when a speeding driver in a stolen vehicle T-boned their SUV and then fled on foot, a case The Oaklandside detailed and one Hoodline previously covered in its report on the couple killed en route to church. Years earlier, in October 2018, 53-year-old Lester Charles Harris was struck and killed in a hit-and-run while crossing in the 2500 block of 73rd Avenue, according to a statement from the Oakland Police Department at the time.
Citywide, hit-and-run collisions account for roughly a quarter of all fatal traffic crashes in Oakland, while nearly half of severe and fatal collisions happen at intersections, per data from the city's Safe Oakland Streets initiative. Advocacy group Traffic Violence Rapid Response counted 23 traffic deaths on Oakland streets in 2025 and at least 11 through early August of this year, including six pedestrians. The group tracks fatalities to press the city for faster safety installations along known danger zones like 73rd Avenue.
Investigation Continues at Nearby Substation
Detectives are handling the case through OPD's Eastmont Substation at 2651 73rd Avenue, which serves as the department's main hub for processing fatal collision reports, vehicle impounds and evidence requests tied to East Oakland crashes. The killing comes just days after Hoodline reported on a separate East Oakland collision in which a child driver critically injured a dog walker after crashing into a yard. Investigators have not said whether nearby surveillance cameras captured the fleeing vehicle involved in Sunday's fatality, and no vehicle description has been released. Anyone with information is asked to contact Oakland police traffic investigators.
