Hit-and-run left an imprint of driver's license plate
YOUNGSTOWN — A woman was cited for the charge of hit/skip after an accident about 9 a.m. Sunday in the northbound lanes of Interstate 680.
Police were called to the exit at Shirley Road, where a man told them he was driving north when he was hit from behind by another car, which pushed his car into a guardrail, spun it around until it crashed into a concrete median and then stopped. The other car kept driving, reports said.
Reports said an “imprint” of the other car’s license plate was left on the victim’s car and they were able to get a plate number from that and from there track the car to a Hazelwood Avenue address. Reports said when officers went to the home and they knocked on the door, no one answered. The car was in the driveway with damage to its front end and paint that matched the victim’s car was on it also.
The driver, Melanie King, 27, came outside only when the car was about to be towed and she told police at first a friend had the car and was coming home from a 12-hour shift at a Boardman restaurant.
However after police called the restaurant to check her story and told her they would not arrest her but only cite her, she told them she was driving after a long shift and must have fallen asleep.
Reports said King told officers she was awakened by a bump and saw the other car hit the guardrail. She panicked and kept driving home, reports said.
She is expected to be arraigned in Municipal Court today.