A woman has died after being struck by a car in East Memphis on Monday afternoon, according to police. Officers responded to a pedestrian-struck incident around 2 p.m. in the 6000 block of Walnut Grove Road, a stretch of roadway lined with medical offices and anchored by Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis.
The woman was initially taken to a hospital in critical condition before she later died, according to a police report cited by FOX13 Memphis. Police said the driver remained at the scene following the crash. As reported by WATN-TV, the crash unfolded near 6019 Walnut Grove Road, the hospital's main campus address, in a corridor that mixes heavy vehicle traffic with a steady flow of patients, visitors and staff on foot.
A Corridor With a Troubled History
This isn't the first time Walnut Grove Road has made headlines for a deadly crash. WREG News Channel 3 reported that a fatal collision near Shelby Farms Park in May killed one person and injured three others, a crash Hoodline also covered at the time. The City of Memphis Bikeway and Pedestrian Program had already flagged safety concerns along the corridor years earlier, adding concrete barriers, realigned crosswalks and protected pedestrian paths near the Farm Road intersection back in December 2020, after a fatal pedestrian and cyclist crash there.
The 6000 block has also seen other recent incidents unrelated to traffic. Hoodline previously reported on gunfire outside the hospital earlier this month, underscoring how frequently this stretch of Walnut Grove Road draws police response.
Memphis Ranked Deadliest Metro for Pedestrians
Monday's fatality lands amid what researchers describe as an escalating crisis on Memphis streets. Smart Growth America's June 2026 “Dangerous by Design” report ranked the Memphis metropolitan area as the most dangerous metro area for pedestrians in the country for the second consecutive study, recording an annual pedestrian fatality rate of 5.5 deaths per 100,000 residents from 2020 through 2024, according to the Memphis Flyer.
The same study found that annual pedestrian fatalities in Memphis nearly doubled, climbing from an average of 44 deaths per year between 2015 and 2019 to 74 deaths per year between 2020 and 2024, totaling 369 pedestrian deaths over that five-year span, per Smart City Memphis. That outlet also noted that pedestrian collisions account for nearly 27 percent of all traffic fatalities in Memphis, compared to a national average of roughly 16 percent.
State data adds further context to the toll. The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security recorded 175 pedestrian-involved crashes and 20 pedestrian fatalities across Shelby County during just the first five months of 2026, according to figures reported by ABC24 Memphis.
What Tennessee Law Requires of Drivers
Tennessee law places clear obligations on drivers when it comes to pedestrian safety. Under Tennessee Code Annotated § 55-8-136, drivers must exercise due care to avoid colliding with pedestrians on any roadway, including driving at a safe speed, maintaining a lookout and sounding the horn when necessary; violations are Class C misdemeanors punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $50 fine, according to Justia Law. Separately, Tennessee Code Annotated § 55-8-134 requires drivers to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians crossing within marked or unmarked crosswalks at intersections, per the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
It remains unclear whether the woman was crossing at a signalized intersection or crosswalk when she was struck, and whether any citations or charges will be filed under the state's due-care statutes. Federal officials have already targeted the city's most dangerous corridors for redesign; in November 2024, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded Memphis a $13.1 million Safe Streets and Roads for All grant aimed at fixing high-injury intersections identified on the city's High Injury Network, according to ThatCarHitMe.com.
The woman's identity has not been released. Hoodline has covered similar tragedies across Memphis in recent months, including a crash at Lamar and Central and a young girl struck by a hit-and-run driver outside a public library, both part of a pattern researchers say has made Memphis streets increasingly perilous for anyone on foot.
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