Police: Suspect In Fatal Hit-Run In NE Philly In Custody
By Jan Carabeo and Mark Abrams
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia police have a person of interest in custody in connection with an early Tuesday morning fatal hit-and-tun crash in the northeast.
#NEW: POLICE: Suspect in deadly hit and run at Bustleton and Cottman just turned himself in to authorities within the hour. #CBS3 @CBSPhilly
— Jan Carabeo (@JanCarabeoCBS3) May 24, 2016
Capt. John Wilczynski, commander of the accident investigation division, says the big break in the case came nearly seven hours after the driver fled the scene of the 12:30 a.m. accident at Cottman and Bustleton Avenues - leaving a heavily-damaged car behind.
With a visible head wound and wearing blood-stained clothes, the captain says a 35-year-old man walked into police headquarters at Eighth and Race.
"He came in on his own volition, he walked up and said, 'yeah, I understand there was a crash last night, it was at this location, it was Bustleton Avenue, I was involved, I was the only one in the vehicle and I'm here to let you know,'" said Captain Wilczynski.
He was taken to Hahneman Hospital for treatment.
Wilczynski says speed of the vehicle and rain were factors in the crash.
The impact was so violent, it ripped the car's wheel from its axle and killed a man waiting on the sidewalk under a canopy at a SEPTA bus stop.
Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small says, "It struck the metal SEPTA canopy with such force it actually tore it from the sidewalk. It also struck the victim who was waiting at the SEPTA stop and launched his body 100 feet."
The victim, who was on his way home from work and was standing under a SEPTA bus shelter, is identified as 50-year-old Alejo Molina the 66-hundred block of Souder Street, in the Oxford Circle area.
The captain says he died at the scene.
