Youngstown cops looking for witness in pedestrian death

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Police are looking for the driver of a dark-colored car who may have witnessed the death of a pedestrian about 6 p.m. Tuesday.

The 50-year-old woman, Michelle Anne Bland, was walking north in the roadway on Gibson Street toward Mabel Avenue when she was struck from behind by a pickup truck from the city wastewater department and killed. The Mahoning County Coroner’s office determined she died from blunt-force injuries to the head.

Police say they want to question the man who was driving the car. They said he got out of his car after the accident, talked to a few people and then drove away. There also was a woman in the car with him, said Detective Sgt. Dave Lomax of the Accident Investigation Unit.

Lomax said witnesses told police the man was driving a late-model Pontiac or Buick.

Lomax said witnesses told police Bland was almost in the middle of the roadway when she was struck.

No charges have been filed. The case is under investigation.

Bland’s death is the city’s first traffic death of 2015. The city had a total of 12 traffic deaths in 2014.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Accident Investigation Unit at 330-742-8946.