A toddler on Monday became the fifth traffic-related fatality in Chattanooga in just five days.
The two-and-a-half-year-old boy, whose name has not been released, was hit by a Ford Expedition in the parking lot of the gas station at the Kanku at 3440 Wilcox Boulevard Monday morning.
Anwoiane Galloway, 36, was leaving the gas pumps and his SUV struck the boy as he was running across the parking lot. Galloway then fled, Chattanooga Police Department Lt. Austin Garrett said.
Chattanooga police work the scene where a two-year-old child was struck and killed in a parking lot in the 3400 Wilcox Boulevard on Monday morning, Jan. 7, 2019.
Galloway called police from a nearby location and told them “he may have hit something in the parking lot,” according to a police department news release.
Later Monday, yellow fire tape cordoned off the station parking lot as police investigated, and people huddled at a gas station across the street to watch. Bystanders said they didn’t know what happened.
Police interviewed Galloway, and he was taken to the Hamilton County Jail after being charged with leaving the scene of an accident with death, failing to render aid, driving without insurance and driving on a suspended license.
Four other people have died in Chattanooga crashes since Jan. 2.
Michael Davidson, 72, died Sunday after sustaining injuries in a two-vehicle crash in the 1200 block of East 3rd Street on Jan. 2.
Walter Berry, 65 was killed the next day in the 500 block of East 23rd Street. He was trying to pass a semi-trailer truck when he lost control of his vehicle and struck the semi, which caused Berry’s vehicle to spin out in the roadway and hit a concrete bridge barrier.
And just 30 minutes after that, two people were killed in a crash at the intersection of East Main Street and South Holtzclaw Avenue. A third person was listed in critical condition, while the driver and two passengers in the other vehicle fled the scene.
Police were still looking Monday night for the suspected driver of the fleeing vehicle, 26-year-old Dwight Turner. He is described as 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighing 190 pounds. He has brown eyes and black hair.
Anyone with information on Turner’s whereabouts is asked to call police at 423-698-2525 or submit a tip through the free Chattanooga PD Mobile app. Anyone contacting police with information can remain anonymous.
Contact staff writer Rosana Hughes at rhughes@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327 with tips or story ideas. Follow her on Twitter @Hughes Rosana.