Search warrant applications reveal new details about the investigation into a fatal hit-and-run last month in downtown Bellefonte.
Stephanie Wilson, 36, died of head trauma on July 22 after being struck by a pickup truck while crossing West High Street near the Allegheny Street intersection.
Centre County 911 received a call at about 8 a.m. reporting a woman lying in the roadway and not breathing.
About five minutes later a woman called 911 and said her boyfriend ‘thought he hit a lady by the courthouse,’ according to the search warrant filed by state police at Rockview. State troopers went to the woman’s residence and spoke to the man, whose vehicle was identified as a red Dodge Ram pickup truck.
The man, who has not been charged to date, was taken to the Rockview barracks and read his Miranda rights. Police wrote that he was evaluated and showed no signs of intoxication.
During the interview, he told police he did not see Wilson in the road before striking her. He allegedly said he first noticed a woman on the road when he was next to her, viewing her from his driver’s side window. After parking, he exited his vehicle to check on her and panicked after seeing her condition, then drove to his girlfriend’s house, according to the search warrant.
Police wrote that video footage from a camera mounted on the Courthouse Annex showed a red Dodge pickup truck turn right from Allegheny Street onto West High Street and strike Wilson as she was crossing the road from north to south. The vehicle came to a stop then moved slowly forward and parked on the right side of High Street.
An individual then exited the truck and ran over to Wilson. The individual briefly bent down over Wilson then ran back to the truck and drove away, according to the search warrant. Police wrote that a positive identification of the individual could not be made because of the distance of the camera from the scene of the crash.
Search warrants were issued to examine the driver’s truck and cell phone. The investigation is ongoing.
