ASTORIA — The NYPD released surveillance video of the car involved in a hit-and-run in Queens earlier this week that left a 45-year-old man dead.
Police are searching for the driver of a silver or gray four-door sedan who fatally struck a pedestrian in the middle of 21st Street just north of 30th Road shortly before 11 p.m. Wednesday.
The driver then took off, heading south on 21st Street, police said.
The grainy video released by the NYPD shows a car driving down the street and approaching a person who appears to be running to get out of its way.
A police spokeswoman could not confirm whether the person in the footage is the victim — whose name has not yet been released — though the timestamp on the video closely matches the time of the crash.
Neighbors near where the accident took place say the intersection, which has no stoplight or painted crosswalk, has long been a dangerous one.
Matthew Troy, executive director of the Variety Boys and Girls Club which runs an afterschool program on that corner, said getting across 21st Street there is "a risk every time."
"We caution our own kids and families never to cross this intersection," he said. "It's nerve-wracking."
The Department of Transportation is now looking at the location for potential safety improvements, though it had rejected calls from the community to install a traffic light there last year.
"We asked in 2014 and it was denied," said Councilman Costa Constantinides, who said that despite a number of changes the DOT made on 21st Street last year, the roadway "still functions more like a highway than a street."
He and other elected officials held a press conference at the scene of the crash Friday morning, asking anyone with information about the hit-and-run to contact the authorities.
Several bouquets of flowers had been attached to a pole at the corner there, and the NYPD had set up a digital sign at the intersection with a telephone number for the public to call in tips.
"Anyone who knows anything about who committed this heinous crime, please come forward," State Sen Michael Gianaris said.
"So we can capture this person, and hopefully avoid a similar incident occurring with another incident in the future."
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
