At around 9:05 a.m. on Thursday, January 9, according to the affidavit, Hund was struck and killed as she was walking east in the southbound crosswalk at South Colorado Bouelevard and East Exposition Avenue.
As for the driver, he kept going.
Afterward, witnesses Shannon Mellinger and Martin Flores described the vehicle that struck Hund as an older model white car — and both managed to obtain a license plate number. Before long, officers traced the plate to Ada Smith, the former wife of Marshall Smith. But it turns out Marshall had been the one with the keys on the 9th. After being contacted, he said he had picked up his car that morning at the DaVita Center, where he gets dialysis treatments on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and driven home.The DaVita Center is located at 755 South Colorado Boulevard, very close to the accident site. The arrest report doesn't mention if Marshall acknowledged having been involved in an accident. But in an interview with 7News on the next page of this post, Hund's husband, Harold Rivers, says the driver "doesn't remember or denied being there."
Mellinger subsequently identified the car as the one that had struck Hund, after which police impounded it — and crime-lab testing revealed what are described as "wipe marks on the lower part of the front bumper...consistent with a pedestrian having been pushed down after contact." In addition, a hair or hair-like fiber was spotted on the exhaust pipe on the undercarriage of the car.
Continue for our previous coverage of the hit and run that killed Leanne Hund, including photos and videos.
Original post, 6:59 a.m. January 28: Yesterday, we told you about the death of a Jefferson County deputy in a head-on collision with Kenneth Hosch, age 83, who has not yet been charged with a crime in the incident.Another elderly driver, 85-year-old Marshall Smith, isn't so fortunate. Smith has been arrested in the hit-and-run death of Leanna Hund, 63, seen here with her husband, Harold Rivers.
Was Smith's age a factor in the crash? Photos, videos and more below.
At about 9:05 a.m. on January 9, according to the Denver Police Department, Hund was at the intersection of Colorado and Exposition, an area captured in the following interactive graphic. If you have problems seeing the image, click "View Larger Map:"
View Larger Map
Hund was walking on the crosswalk from the west side of Colorado Boulevard to the east when a vehicle identified as a 1985 Chevrolet Impala struck her while turning south on Colorado from eastbound Exposition — and just kept going. A 7News report notes that Hund was actually dragged under the vehicle.
A witness to the crime, Shannon Mellinger, rushed to aid Hund, who died from her injuries, and was able to give police good information about the Chevy.
Before long, cops traced the car to Smith's residence in south Denver. But an arrest wasn't imminent. In another 7News item, Rivers said the driver of the car "doesn't remember or denied being there."
That didn't placate Denver police investigators, who conducted what the department describes as "detailed forensic examination" on the car after impounding it. And yesterday, Smith was busted on suspicion of hit and run.
Look below to see the two 7News reports — one from shortly after the crash, the second featuring a meeting between Rivers and Mellinger.
Send your story tips to the author, Michael Roberts.
More from our News archive: "Video: Kenneth Hosch, 83, behind wheel in crash that killed Jefferson County deputy."
