MILWAUKEE — A pedestrian is dead after police say he ran across the street and was struck by three different drivers in Milwaukee on Tuesday.
According to the Milwaukee Police Department, it happened around 7:45 p.m. near 99th and Calumet.
A 21-year-old Milwaukee man was running westbound across the street when a driver, a 75-year-old Milwaukee man, who was traveling northbound on 99th collided with the pedestrian.
Police say the driver of a second vehicle, a 21-year-old Milwaukee woman, was traveling northbound behind the 75-year-old driver. She also collided with the pedestrian.
A third driver, also traveling behind the other two vehicles, then struck the pedestrian in the street as well. That driver fled the scene without stopping.
The 21-year-old Milwaukee male pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene.
The 21-year-old woman and 75-year-old man stayed on the scene and are cooperating with the police.
This is the second deadly pedestrian crash at this intersection in the last two years. On March 18, 2021, Jordan Jackson, 28, was killed after being hit by two different vehicles, according to the Medical Examiner's reports.
"I am not really [surprised] honestly," Marybeth McGinnis, Program Manager for MilWALKee Walks said. "Most of our streets in Milwaukee are too big."
As an advocate for pedestrian safety, McGinnis sees lots of areas for improvement at the intersection of 99th and Calumet. While the width of the street allows for people to drive faster, McGinnis says the lack of lighting and sidewalks are of great concern. There are two street lights at the intersection and there is no sidewalk on the southwest portion of the intersection.
"There is probably a low amount of traffic but the street is quite wide," McGinnis said. "It's really wide and really straight so people go much faster because our brains think it's safe to go fast when it's that wide."
Pedestrian deaths are on the rise in Milwaukee. While there was a downtick each year from 2017 to 2019, the number of pedestrian deaths topped at least a six-year high in 2022.
Additionally, in the last four years, by February 14 there have been three pedestrian deaths since 2020.
Police are still looking for the driver that left the scene in Tuesday night's crash and the potential drivers involved in Jordan Jackson's death from 2021. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Milwaukee Police at (414) 935-7360 or to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at (414) 224-Tips or P3 Tips.
