Police Identify Man Struck by Car, Carried a Mile: Police

Updated at 8:05 p.m.

SILVER SPRING, MD — Authorities have identified a pedestrian hit by a car and carried for roughly a mile before the body was left on the road, say authorities.

Montgomery County Police were called to a fatal, hit-and-run crash about 9:24 p.m. Thursday in the 14400 block of Layhill Road. While first responders were attempting to locate the accident scene, another call for a pedestrian collision was reported at Bel Pre Road and Homecrest Road, about one mile away.

Units responding to the Homecrest Road intersection located Julius Henry Newton, 77, of the 14800 block of Melfordshire Way in the Layhill area of the county; he was found dead in the roadway. Officers quickly determined that the two calls were actually for different parts of the same collision.

Detectives determined that Newton had been struck on Layhill Road as he walked from west to east across the inbound lanes of Layhill Road and had been carried by the striking vehicle about a mile to the Bel Pre Road and Homecrest Road intersection.

Witnesses initially described the striking vehicle as a tan sedan. Detectives now believe the striking vehicle may be a late model white or tan sedan.

Investigators believe there is damage to the striking vehicle’s front end. The driver may have believed that he or she struck an animal or some other object in the road, police say. Investigators want to speak with any driver who had that experience last night in that area.

Anyone with information about this fatal hit-and-run crash is urged to contact police at 240.773.6620.

»Photo from accident scene courtesy of Montgomery County Police