A hit-and-run that left two people dead and a third injured Saturday night in St. Landry Parish apparently involved a distraught woman who ran into the street after learning of her son's death.
The incident, which happened at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday in the northbound lane of La. 749 near Legion Lane in Opelousas, was the topic of discussion Sunday afternoon among those who live in the area.
Neighbors said one of those killed had received a call Saturday night with news that her son had been found dead, unrelated to the hit and run. They said the woman, overcome with grief after receiving the news, ran out onto the highway as two relatives worked to console her and tried frantically to stop oncoming traffic.
A preliminary investigation shows Opelousas residents Kizzy Greene, 42, and Angela Broussard, 41, and another person were standing in the northbound lane of LA 749 when they were struck by an unknown northbound vehicle. After hitting the three pedestrians, the unknown vehicle fled the scene.
Greene and Broussard died. The third person, who was not identified by police, suffered minor injuries. The three victims were related, State Police said.
Neighbor Verda Walker said she does not know any of the victims personally, but came upon the scene soon after returning home from a local bar Saturday night.
"We heard a lady on the phone, just talking on the phone with the cops, and she said 'Hurry up! They got two bodies on the road,'" Walker said. "And then a cop came, and she said, 'Oh, slow down! Stop, stop! You're going to run over the body!'"
Walker said she went inside her home after law enforcement showed up, but a long line of emergency vehicles stayed on the highway well into the night.
The situation, according to neighbors, happened after a phone call bearing tragic news.
"Somebody called and told her that her son got killed or something like that," Walker said. "And she left into the street with the other girl behind her when somebody hit both of them and kept going."
No vehicle or driver information was available as of Sunday evening, according to Trooper Thomas Gossen, spokesman for Louisiana State Police Troop I.
The body of a young man was discovered at about 4 p.m. Saturday in a drainage ditch on Austin Road near Blossom Road in a rural area of St. Landry Parish, according to Eddie Thibodeaux, deputy chief for the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office.
The Sheriff's Office has not yet released the person's identity.
Neither Thibodeaux nor Gossen could confirm if the man is related to the victims in the hit-and-run.
Those who live and work near where the body was found said they did not know the victim or anything about the circumstances surrounding his recovery.
Dion Lanclos, who lives with his mother, was shocked to come home Sunday afternoon after a weekend away to find remnants of police tape fluttering in the breeze along Austin Road.
"It's possible somebody could have gotten hit on this road," Lanclos said. "But you never know with the way things are today, he could have been dropped off. This is the first time I ever heard of something like that happening on this road, and my mama's lived here for probably 14 or 15 years. It's very shocking."
Anyone with information on the hit-and-run is urged to call Louisiana State Police Troop I at 337-262-5880. Anyone with information on the body found along Austin Road is urged to call the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office at 337-948-6516.
