Published: July 22, 2008 11:04 pm      

Hit-and-run driver sought, victim in stable condition

Sheriff’s deputies say their hunt continues for a hit-and-run driver who struck an elderly pedestrian with a pickup truck.

Just before 8 a.m. Monday, Lewis Clay Duncan, 79, of Fireco, parked his white Toyota Camry alongside Coal City Road, across from White’s Service Center, said Chief Deputy Steve Tanner of the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department.

As Duncan prepared to walk toward White’s, he was about 6-8 feet away from the road — “well off” of it, Tanner said. That’s when someone driving a full-size pickup truck ran off the road and struck Duncan. The pickup truck’s driver fled the scene.

Duncan is believed to have been thrown onto his own car after being struck, according to Tanner. Deputies observed a dent on the car that is not believed to have come from the truck.

Duncan was taken to a local hospital because no airlift service was available, Tanner said. A nursing supervisor at Raleigh General Hospital said Duncan was in stable condition Tuesday afternoon.

Deputies have received a few tips, but they have been unable to identify the driver, Tanner said. The truck is described as a 1990s model full-size Dodge pickup, black with red striping and chrome trim. It was last seen headed toward Pemberton.

Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to call the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department at 255-9300 or Crime Stoppers at 255-7867.

— E-mail: apridemore@register-herald.com