AUSTIN -- Police are searching for the driver of a fatal hit and run.
Around 10:30 p.m. Monday, police got multiple 911 calls. Witnesses told officers they saw a person in the road. Police found 25-year-old Justin Patrick Murphy lying on the frontage road of Research Boulevard near the Oak Knoll exit. He was already dead.
Police believe Murphy was riding his bicycle when a vehicle hit him from behind. The driver did not stop. Police say Murphy did not have a rear flashing light on the bicycle and was not wearing a helmet.
“It's really hard for the investigators to be able to solve those types of collisions because a lot of times the detective is given no description of the vehicle because they weren't there when the car was hit or it happened so fast the other driver drove away. If you don't have witnesses that are able to provide any type of information, a lot of those cases go unsolved. A lot of those times you have to be able to pick a driver out of a line-up,” said Cpl. Anthony Hipolito of APD.
Cpl. Hipolito says of the nearly 8,500 reported hit and run crashes in 2011, most remain unsolved. Police have made 287 arrests in those cases. Warrants are out for another 34 cases.
Investigators are now questioning witnesses hoping they can find the driver. The vehicle involved is most likely a Ford with front-end damage near the right headlight.
Police are asking anyone who might have information about Monday evening’s accident to call APD's Vehicular Homicide tip line at 512-974-5784.
