PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles police were looking Tuesday for the driver of a white, damaged vehicle that might have been involved in a hit-and-run that killed an unidentified adult male pedestrian in west Port Angeles on Monday night.
“Officers and detectives are continuing to try to identify the subject vehicle and the deceased,” Interim Police Chief Brian Smith said.
“Preliminary information tells us that a Geo Prizm or Toyota Corolla — white — would be a possible suspect vehicle,” Smith added in a later interview.
Smith said the white male, in his late 40s to early 50s, did not have identification when police found him unconscious and barely breathing, with a faint pulse, after investigating a report of a hit-and-run at 10:47 p.m. Monday.
They found the man in the 2000 block of West 18th Street near a Clallam County Public Utility District building.
The man stopped breathing and police performed CPR before Port Angeles Fire Department paramedics arrived, Smith said.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene.
“We found a blood trail,” Smith said. “The blood trail led to the injured and subsequently deceased person.”
The victim was described as 6-foot-1, 180 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.
Police had not confirmed his identity as of Tuesday afternoon. His name will be released after the family is notified, police said.
Parts of the suspect vehicle that were found in the area indicate it is white, Smith said.
It appears the vehicle sustained significant front passenger-side damage, Smith said.
Police were analyzing the parts they found Tuesday afternoon.
“As we work through that, I think we’ll probably be able to come down to a make and model of the vehicle,” Smith said.
The Prizm was manufactured between 1989 and 2002 in the same factory as the Corolla, Smith said.
The State Patrol assisted police in processing the scene and collecting evidence.
Anyone with information about the identity of the suspect vehicle and driver is asked to phone Port Angeles police at 360-452-4545 or email Officer Kyle Cooper at kcooper@cityofpa.us.
________
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
