Tip gives police lead in hit-and-run death

Staff Report

YOUNGSTOWN

Police say a tip has given them a lead in the hit-and- run death of a 20-year-old woman early Monday.

A spokesman said Tuesday that police have a vehicle and a person of interest in the death of Nicole Baird of Youngstown.

Baird was killed about 5:30 a.m. Monday on Interstate 680 near the Shirley Road exit.

Police say she was driving north on the highway when she ran over a bag of leaves that became lodged under her car.

She pulled over in the left- hand lane next to the concrete median and got out of the car to try and dislodge it when she was struck by a vehicle and flipped over the median into the southbound lane.

As she was in the southbound lane, a car hit her and killed her instantly.

The car never stopped.

The spokesman would not say if police had interviewed anyone.

He did say the tip was important and investigators hope to present their findings to prosecutors perhaps as early as today if the tip corresponds with evidence recovered at the scene.

No charges have been filed against the driver of the vehicle that struck Baird while she was in the northbound lane.