Police Make Arrest in Crossroads Hit-and-Run Fatality

investigators arrested a Bellevue man Saturday morning in connection with the last night while trying to cross NE 8th Street.

Police arrested the man at around 9:30 a.m. at his home on 1300 block of 165^th Avenue N.E. after investigators found a gold Town Car parked at the residence with Washington license plates closely matching an eyewitness description from the previous night. The woman was killed Friday evening at around 8:20 p.m. after the suspect allegedly hit her with a Lincoln Town Car on 16100 block of NE 8th Street in the Crossroads neighborhood. Bellevue police officers and fire personnel found the woman on the side of the road but life-saving attempts to revive her were unsuccessful.

Police seized the vehicle as evidence and booked the man into the King County Jail for felony hit-and-run, and bail was denied. The name of the suspect is not being released pending charges.

According to a press release, the owner came out of the house as investigators were examining the vehicle, which had damage consistent with last night's hit-and-run fatality. Police say the 49-year-old man immediately confessed to last night’s collision. He told them he was scared and drove off after striking the pedestrian.

Police found the vehicle by following a tip from a Bellevue resident who grew suspicious after passing the suspect's home on his morning walk and saw a vehicle matching the description in news reports about the accident. A description of the vehicle, a silver Lincoln Town Car with dark tinted windows, was released to the media last night.

Bellevue Police spokesperson Carla Iafrate said the passerby regularly saw two Town Cars parked in the driveway, but noticed the silver Town Car was not in the driveway this morning. 

Iafrate said she wanted to thank citizens and eyewitnesses who were instrumental in solving this case. 

According to the press release, two witnesses followed the suspect vehicle long enough to obtain a partial license plate, the media assisted with releasing the information quickly and the resident that had a gut feeling about two vehicles all helped in solving the case.

"(Citizen tips were) very helpful in this case," she said. "Without their information it would have be much more difficult to solve this crime."