A man was rushed to the hospital early Friday after a driver struck him near 27th and Northern Avenues in Phoenix and then fled before officers arrived. The collision happened around 1 a.m., and the intersection was shut down as investigators worked the scene.
According to Arizona's Family, Phoenix police say the driver fled before authorities arrived, but investigators obtained information leading them to the hit-and-run vehicle and took the driver into custody. The injured man suffered serious and life-threatening injuries, the outlet reports, and Phoenix's Vehicular Crimes Unit is now investigating what led up to the crash.
Detectives placed numerous evidence markers across the intersection as they worked to piece together the sequence of events, per the same report. Investigators located the hit-and-run vehicle and arrested the driver.
Road Closure Snarls Overnight Traffic Near I-17
The closure stretched Northern Avenue all the way to Interstate 17, according to the report, and police advised drivers exiting I-17 onto Northern Avenue to seek another route while the investigation continued overnight. The closure affected a stretch of northwest Phoenix while the investigation continued.
This is not the first time this exact corner has seen tragedy. In October 2025, an adult male pedestrian was struck and killed in a hit-and-run collision near this same intersection of 27th Avenue and Northern Avenue, according to the Phoenix Police Department. That earlier fatality underscores long-standing safety concerns along this stretch of West Phoenix.
27th Avenue's Troubled Safety Record
Phoenix has a Vision Zero High Injury Network, according to Impact Legal. Phoenix officials expanded rotating speed enforcement cameras along 27th Avenue between Colter Street and Missouri Avenue in August 2026, per Ramos Law.
At 27th Avenue and Indian School Road, more than one in four crashes ends with a driver leaving, according to Law Badgers PLLC. That same analysis found Phoenix police respond to a hit-and-run incident roughly once every 50 minutes citywide, generating more than 46,000 traffic-related calls a year.
The pattern extends statewide. Arizona recorded 16,136 hit-and-run collisions in 2024, resulting in 86 deaths, according to state crash data cited by AZ Law Now. On September 4, a deadly pedestrian collision was reported near 7th Avenue.
Steep Legal Consequences for Fleeing Drivers
Arizona law treats leaving the scene of an injury crash as a serious felony. Under Arizona Revised Statutes § 28-661, failing to stop at the scene of an accident causing non-serious injury is a Class 5 felony carrying up to 2.5 years in prison, while fleeing a crash that causes serious injury or death is a Class 3 felony with a first-offense penalty of up to 8.75 years, according to the Tamou Law Group. Drivers convicted under the statute also face a mandatory license revocation of up to 10 years depending on the severity of the victim's injuries, per AZ Law Now.
The Silent Witness program's phone numbers are 480-WITNESS, or 480-TESTIGO in Spanish. Phoenix police have located the hit-and-run vehicle and taken the driver into custody as the Vehicular Crimes Unit continues its investigation.
