A woman is dead after a driver struck her early Sunday in Louisville's Taylor Berry neighborhood and then kept going, crashing into a second vehicle before vanishing entirely. The initial collision was reported around 4:40 a.m. in the 2700 block of Seventh Street Road, where police say the woman was struck as she stepped onto the roadway.
The driver of the unknown vehicle did not stop to help, according to The Courier-Journal, and instead continued down Seventh Street Road before slamming into another vehicle. That second crash's driver and passengers were not hurt, but the vehicle that caused both collisions fled the scene a second time and has not been located. The woman struck in the initial collision was pronounced dead at the scene.
Traffic Unit Takes Over the Investigation
Louisville Metro Police's Traffic Unit has assumed control of the investigation into both collisions, per the same report. The whereabouts of the vehicle responsible remain unclear, and no description of the car has been released. The woman's identity is expected to be released by the Jefferson County Coroner's Office, though it has not been made public as of this report.
The circumstances echo a case from the same stretch of road five years earlier. In April 2021, a 49-year-old pedestrian was struck in the 2700 block of Seventh Street Road and later died at the hospital, according to a separate Courier-Journal report. Investigators in that case believed the suspect vehicle was a black Ford Escape made between 2008 and 2012 that was missing part of its driver's-side bumper, though that case is unrelated to Sunday's crash.
A Pattern of Fatal Flight in Louisville
Sunday's crash adds to a string of recent fatal hit-and-runs and traffic deaths across the Louisville area. Police were previously investigating a deadly hit-and-run on Bardstown Road in which a man was struck while standing near his car following an earlier crash, as reported by WLKY. In a separate Bardstown Road case, a woman was killed while attempting to cross the street, and police later arrested 22-year-old Bryson Barber, who faced charges including murder, leaving the scene of an accident involving death or serious physical injury, operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, tampering with physical evidence and reckless driving, WLKY reported.
Just days before Sunday's crash, a woman injured in a collision on Interstate 264 East in Louisville died at the hospital, according to WDRB. Kentucky State Police data show 814 people were killed in 767 fatal traffic collisions statewide in 2023.
Hit-and-Runs Make Up Nearly a Quarter of U.S. Pedestrian Deaths
Nationally, the problem of drivers fleeing after striking pedestrians has remained stubbornly common even as overall pedestrian deaths decline. The Governors Highway Safety Association projects that 6,732 people walking or using wheelchairs were killed in U.S. traffic crashes in 2025, a 7% drop from the year before and the third straight annual decline, according to GHSA. Even so, hit-and-run drivers killed 1,669 pedestrians nationwide in 2024, accounting for nearly a quarter of all pedestrian fatalities that year.
GHSA's data also shows that light trucks, including SUVs, pickups and vans, were the striking vehicle in just over half of pedestrian fatalities in 2024, compared with roughly 40% for passenger cars. More than three-quarters of pedestrian deaths with known lighting conditions happened after dark, and nearly two-thirds occurred where there was no sidewalk. No details about the vehicle involved in Sunday's Taylor Berry crash, including its make or model, have been released by investigators.
