Hit-and-run kills pedestrian in downtown Austin

One person is dead and another was critically injured after an early morning hit-and-run at East Seventh and Red River streets, according to Austin police.

First responders received 911 calls around 1:10 a.m. Tuesday reporting two pedestrians struck by a vehicle, which fled the scene, Austin police Lt. Allen McClure confirmed.

Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services declared one person deceased at the scene and carried another person to Dell Seton Medical Center. EMS Capt. Darren Noak said the sole survivor had critical, life-threatening injuries.

The driver continued traveling east on East Seventh Street after the crash, police said in a news release. The vehicle was described as a dark gray Mazda.

Police are looking for the driver, Cpl. Jose Mendez said in a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

Austin police had not identified the two victims nor whether they were affiliated with South by Southwest as of Tuesday afternoon. The incident took place in the Red River entertainment district, which has been hosting events in affiliation with SXSW.

However, Mendez said the incident took place outside of the SXSW barricades and was not similar to the 2014 deadly hit-and-run in which the driver, Rashad Owens, disregarded police barricades and drove into a crowd at SXSW, killing four people and injuring 20.

Inside SXSW barricades, a patrol officer is stationed at every intersection, along with 700-pound "devices" that can withstand a great amount of pressure, such as the impact of a dump truck, Mendez said.

Police could not give more details Tuesday afternoon about what led to Tuesday morning's crash.

In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, SXSW said it was "deeply saddened to hear of the passing of an individual in downtown Austin following an auto-pedestrian accident."

SXSW did not return requests for comment Tuesday about the affiliation of the pedestrians or the safety measures undertaken by the festival.

This incident is being investigated as Austin's 13th fatal traffic crash of 2024, resulting in 13 deaths for the year, the police news release said. By this date in 2023, 20 fatal crashes had resulted in 20 deaths.

Lyft driver witnesses aftermath of hit-and-run

O’Neal Hart was driving for Lyft early Tuesday when he came upon the scene of the hit-and-run, possibly one minute after it happened, he told the American-Statesman.

Hart had picked up two passengers in downtown Austin when he saw a heavy law enforcement presence at the intersection of East Seventh and Red River streets. He said his vehicle was stopped there for about 10 minutes until police allowed cars to pass. The scene was captured on his dashboard camera in footage that he provided to the Statesman.

Hart described the intersection as "very hectic," swarming with plainclothes and uniformed police officers, state troopers and paramedics. He thought it might have been an active shooter situation until he noticed a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper removing a first aid kit, rather than a rifle, from his vehicle's trunk.

He said that while he sat at the crossroads, he saw two hats and a shoe sitting in the middle of the intersection, which he believed could have belonged to a crash victim. In the footage, one of the passengers is heard saying she saw law enforcement bring out a white bag to place over a body.

In the video, a passerby is heard asking a police officer whether the pedestrians were patrons of SXSW, to which the officer responded, "No idea."

Hart noted he did not see a body, nor did he know whether the pedestrians were in the area for SXSW events.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Pedestrian killed in downtown Austin hit-and-run