Pedestrian dragged 1 mile in Montgomery Co. hit-and-run crash

Layhill Road at Bel Pre Road, where a pedestrian was stuck and killed by a car Thursday night. (WTOP/Dennis Foley)
Layhill Road at Bel Pre Road, where a pedestrian was stuck and killed by a car in a hit and run Thursday night. (WTOP/Dennis Foley)
A hit-and-run accident killed a pedestrian around Layhill Road and Bel Pre Road in Silver Spring, Maryland, Thursday night. Police say the pedestrian was hit and dragged more than a mile to Homecrest Road. (Wesley Brown)
A hit-and-run accident killed a pedestrian around Layhill Road and Bel Pre Road in Silver Spring, Maryland, Thursday night. Police say the pedestrian was hit and dragged more than a mile to Homecrest Road. (Wesley Brown)
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Layhill Road at Bel Pre Road, where a pedestrian was stuck and killed by a car Thursday night. (WTOP/Dennis Foley)
A hit-and-run accident killed a pedestrian around Layhill Road and Bel Pre Road in Silver Spring, Maryland, Thursday night. Police say the pedestrian was hit and dragged more than a mile to Homecrest Road. (Wesley Brown)

WASHINGTON — A hit-and-run collision killed a pedestrian around Layhill Road and Bel Pre Road in Silver Spring, Maryland, late Thursday evening.

A pedestrian, identified as 77-year-old Julius Henry Newton of the Layhill area was struck in the area of Bel Pre and Homecrest roads at about 9:20 p.m. When emergency personnel arrived at the scene, they found Newtown dead in the roadway of the Homecrest Road intersection.

Initially, police officers and emergency personnel answered a call for a pedestrian hit in the 14400 block of Layhill Road. As they were trying to locate the accident, a second call came in for a pedestrian hit about a mile away at Bel Pre Road and Homecrest Road. Officers determined that the two calls were for the same collision, according to Montgomery County police.

Police report that Newton had been hit on Layhill Road and was carried by the vehicle that hit him for about one mile onto the Homecrest Road and Bel Pre Road intersection.

Montgomery County police are looking for the driver involved: detectives believe the striking vehicle may be a late model white or tan sedan. Investigators believe there is damage to the striking vehicle’s front end.

Detectives also believe that the driver may have believed that he or she struck an animal or some other object in the road. It was last seen just after 10 p.m. Thursday heading east on Bel Pre Road.

Anyone with information about this fatal, hit-and-run, pedestrian collision is urged to contact the Collision Reconstruction Unit at 240-773-6620.

Teta Alim

Teta Alim is a Digital Editor at WTOP. Teta's interest in journalism started in music and moved to digital media.

Sarah Beth Hensley

Sarah Beth Hensley is the Digital News Director at WTOP. She has worked several different roles since she began with WTOP in 2013 and has contributed to award-winning stories and coverage on the website.

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