HENRICO COUNTY, Va. --Two crash scenes blocks apart on Staples Mill Road Wednesday are not connected, according to police.
In the first, a pedestrian was fatally struck as he crossed the road. In the second, a house was condemned after an SUV struck a car, sending it all the way into the basement of the house, taking part of the foundation with it.
A man in his 60's was hit and killed crossing the street at Staples Mill near Townhouse Road. The driver stopped, and Crime Insider sources say speed and alcohol were not factors.
The pedestrian fatality is the third in a month for Battalion Chief Doug Reynolds’ shift.
"It bothers us,” Reynolds said. “We are human, too. It takes a toll. Actually, one of the engine companies has been on all three of the fatalities."
In the second crash, a car was wedged in the basement of a house about a half- mile down Staples Mill. Police say the driver and passenger suffered minor injuries, but the house was condemned by county building inspectors.
Witnesses say an SUV tried to make a U-turn, and hit the car, which then went straight into the basement of the house.
"Here we are on Staples Mill, and not too far apart you have a fatality and this [second crash] could've easily been a fatal,” said Reynolds. “It's a matter of inches and about how you hit things.”
Police are in the process of notifying the pedestrian's next of kin.
Emergency personnel saying it's a good time to remind people that dark clothing and not crossing at traffic lights or crosswalks is a dangerous, and as seen on Wednesday night, a deadly combination.
