Philadelphia police have impounded a sport-utility vehicle that they suspect was involved in Friday’s hit-and-run accident that killed a 15-year-old Northeast girl.
Accident investigators on Sunday found the 2006 Toyota Sequoia in a parking lot outside the city’s Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility at 7901 State Road, a police spokeswoman said. Police have not confirmed that it was the hit-and-run vehicle, and they have not filed any charges against the owner, who they did not name publicly but who reportedly works for the prison system.
The green SUV has front-end damage consistent with the type of accident described by police as occurring at Rhawn Street and Lexington Avenue just after 11 p.m. Friday.
The victim, Mary Otto, of the 1900 block of Kennedy St., was walking eastbound in the center median of Rhawn Street just east of Lexington Ave. when she was hit by the eastbound SUV, the police spokeswoman said. The striking vehicle then fled the scene with possible front-end damage.
Philadelphia Fire Department medics took Otto to Frankford Hospital-Torresdale in critical condition. The girl was pronounced dead at 3:11 a.m.
Though Otto was accompanied by several other youths at the time of the accident, a police source said, investigators initially got a very limited description of the suspect vehicle, saying only that it was an SUV or mini-van.
But early on Sunday, while investigating an unrelated fatal vehicle-pedestrian crash in North Philadelphia, police received a tip about the Toyota parked at the city prison and towed the vehicle to a city impound site. According to a police source, investigators on Tuesday were awaiting a search warrant for the vehicle to compare its front-end damage to physical evidence recovered from the Rhawn Street accident scene.
Also, investigators were awaiting the results of a medical and toxicology examination on Otto. ••