A man died after being struck by a vehicle in the 1300 block of East Washington Street in Petersburg on Sunday, and the driver did not stick around. Police have since arrested a woman they say was behind the wheel, charging her with involuntary manslaughter and felony hit-and-run in connection with his death.
Officers with the Petersburg Bureau of Police were called to the scene on Sept. 27 and found an unidentified male victim who had already died from his injuries, according to WRIC ABC 8News. The driver involved had left before officers arrived, the outlet reported. His identity had not been released as of the time of reporting.
Investigators arrested Tameka Renee Lane and charged her with both involuntary manslaughter and felony hit-and-run, per the same WRIC report. She is currently being held without bond.
Abandoned Car Found Blocks From the Scene
As officers worked the case, they turned up a key piece of physical evidence. Officers patrolling the area later found an abandoned vehicle on Banks Street with front-end damage consistent with the crash, according to a report from WTVR. The vehicle's registration did not come back valid, and the search for the driver continued from there, the station reported.
A local shop owner told WTVR that speeding along that stretch of East Washington Street is a persistent problem, a detail that adds context to how the crash unfolded even as the exact circumstances of the collision remain unclear.
A City Already Flagged for Pedestrian Danger
The crash lands in a city that has already drawn scrutiny over pedestrian safety. Petersburg was one of just three Virginia localities — alongside Richmond and Roanoke — to rank in the top 10% statewide for pedestrian crashes, pedestrian deaths, and serious pedestrian injuries during the six-year period beginning in 2020, according to Virginia Mercury. Statewide, Virginia recorded 138 pedestrian deaths in 2025, per data from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.
What Lane Could Face Under Virginia Law
Under state law, involuntary manslaughter is punishable as a Class 5 felony, according to the Virginia Code. Separately, a driver convicted of failing to stop after an accident that results in injury or death is also guilty of a Class 5 felony, per the relevant hit-and-run statute in the Virginia Code.
No further details about the victim, the timing of the crash, or how investigators connected Lane to the abandoned vehicle have been made public. The case remains a developing story.
