A woman was killed in a hit-and-run early this morning in University City.
Meaza Brown, 48, from South Philadelphia was walking with co-workers when a driver in a silver Chrysler 300 with tinted windows struck and killed her at 4:17 a.m. on 33rd and Market Streets, Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small told reporters at the scene. The woman was pronounced dead at 4:59 a.m. at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center with multiple injuries and internal bleeding.
Small said that the woman was hit at such a high rate of speed, “she was launched out of her sneakers,” he said. Police say the collision propelled the woman several hundred feet down Market Street.
“The driver of the striking vehicle did not remain on scene, did not render any aid, and just fled the scene,” Small said.
The driver drove away on Market Street, heading toward 30th Street Station. No other people were hit by the car or injured, police said.
Police were able to get the Chrysler’s license plate number, and officers were sent to the home registered with the vehicle this morning. The investigation is ongoing.
The deadly hit-and-run occurred in the heart of Drexel University’s campus, in the intersection in front of the school library and student center, and only a few blocks from 30th Street Station.
Philadelphia has experienced the lowest number of traffic deaths in the first half of this year since 2019, according to the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. Fatalities have been on a downtrend for years, however, the back half of each year tends to get more deadly.
The city has recorded more than 70 fatal crashes this year, with more than a third of those killed being pedestrians.