Two pedestrians were struck by hit-and-run drivers in Antioch more than three hours apart Saturday night, leaving a 54-year-old man and a 63-year-old woman with major injuries and both airlifted to trauma centers. Antioch Police are now asking the public for help identifying the drivers responsible for the separate, unrelated crashes, which happened three hours and seven minutes apart in different parts of the city.
The first collision happened around 6:50 p.m. at East 18th Street and Phillips Lane, according to the Antioch Herald. Officers arrived within three minutes after APD dispatch received a report of a pedestrian down, and the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District took over care of the victim, a 54-year-old man who suffered severe leg injuries. Sgt. Rob Green said the man was from Antioch and possibly a transient, per the outlet's report. He was airlifted by helicopter to a trauma center, and the case, numbered 26-8734 with incident number 2609120132, was closed at 8:56 p.m. and listed as a report taken on felony charges. Witnesses described the suspect vehicle only as a dark gray sedan, and the driver fled the scene.
Second Crash Struck Near Sunset Drive Auto Parts Store
Hours later, at 9:57 p.m., officers responded to a report of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle near the Antioch Napa Auto Parts store at 801 Sunset Drive. A 63-year-old woman suffered major injuries to her arms and legs and was transported by helicopter to a trauma center. The Antioch Police Department's traffic unit conducted an on-scene investigation, but the suspect vehicle had already fled before officers arrived.
“The car came out of nowhere,” Sgt. Green said of the second crash, according to the same report. He added that investigators found no evidence supporting foul play in that incident. The case, tracked under number 26-8737 and incident number 2609120155, was closed the following morning at 11:24 a.m. and, per the Citizenrims crime map, its disposition was listed as supplement. Antioch Police consider the crash a felony, and both investigations remain active and ongoing.
Sunset Drive Has Seen a Hit-and-Run
Saturday's crash near the auto parts store occurred on Sunset Drive. East 18th Street, the site of the first Saturday crash, carries its own designation: the City of Antioch's 2022 Local Roadway Safety Plan flagged the corridor as high-risk, citing a heavy concentration of broadside collisions and other traffic safety hazards, according to the city's own report.
Part of a Grim Late-Summer Pattern
Saturday's double crash follows a brutal late-August stretch for Antioch pedestrians. An August 22 crosswalk collision near Highway 4 and Hillcrest Avenue killed a 33-year-old woman, as Hoodline previously reported. That same week, Antioch also saw a standoff in which an Oakley woman rammed patrol cars near East 18th Street, injuring an officer.
The scale of the problem extends well beyond any single week. Contra Costa County recorded 457 hit-and-run collisions resulting in injury or death in 2023 alone, according to California Office of Traffic Safety data cited in Hoodline's earlier coverage. SafetyFirst reports 44,489 total collisions in Contra Costa County from 2014 through 2025, according to SafetyFirst. Contra Costa Health has reported that pedestrians and bicyclists account for 40% of all traffic-related fatalities and severe injuries across the county, underscoring the vulnerability of people on foot in these crashes, per the county health department's own findings.
State and National Numbers Point to a Wider Crisis
California's pedestrian death toll remains part of the broader traffic-safety crisis. Nationally, drivers struck and killed 7,148 pedestrians across the United States in 2024, a 19% increase over eight years, according to data compiled by the Governors Highway Safety Association and cited by the California Active Transportation Safety Information Pages.
The Contra Costa County Vision Zero Action Plan was adopted in March 2022 and uses a Safe System Approach, according to an ArcGIS StoryMaps account of the initiative. Under California Vehicle Code Section 20001, fleeing the scene of an accident causing death or permanent serious injury can carry two, three, or four years in state prison and fines of $1,000 to $10,000, according to FindLaw. State law requires drivers to stop and render aid regardless of fault.
Police Ask Public for Tips
Antioch Police are urging anyone with witness accounts, video, or other information about either crash to contact Sgt. Green of the traffic unit at (925) 779-6864. Anonymous tips may also be submitted directly to the Antioch Police Department. Both investigations remain active and ongoing as authorities continue searching for the drivers who left two people fighting for recovery over the weekend.
