In a nearly 12-hour period, at least two pedestrians were killed on metro Atlanta roadways, police said.
About 7:02 a.m. Tuesday, Richard Cumming, 75, of Marietta, was hit and killed at South Cobb Drive and Walthall Avenue, prompting officials to shut down all northbound and most southbound lanes for more than two hours, Cobb County police said.
Cobb police Sgt. Dana Pierce said Cumming stepped into the path of a 2004 GMC truck for unknown reasons.
“The victim went down in the roadway, and we believe was also hit by a second vehicle described as being a newer model white sedan,” Pierce said.
That driver of the truck remained on the scene, he said.
Witnesses told police the driver of the white sedan failed to stop and continued northbound on South Cobb Drive.
Mohammad Khawaja, a clerk at the Sunoco Food Mart in the 1100 block of South Cobb Drive, said Cumming was the owner of the Pro-Formance Place auto repair shop next door.
He said the victim occasionally dropped off cars to a nearby transmission worker. He had just done that Tuesday when the truck and the white sedan struck him, Khawaja said.
“I’m feeling very sad. You know? He was my neighbor,” Khawaja said. “He was a nice guy.”
Police are looking to talk to the driver of the white sedan in the ongoing investigation, but they don’t expect to file charges, Pierce said.
South Cobb Drive has two northbound lanes, two southbound lanes and a center turn lane where the pedestrian was hit. There are no crosswalks in the immediate area, but there is one about 300 feet north of the area, Pierce said.
“We do see a number of people try to cross these multi-lane highways outside of the crosswalk, and that’s a big concern for us,” Pierce said.
The accident in south Cobb wasn’t the only fatal pedestrian accident in the metro area.
—Staff writer Ellen Eldridge contributed to this report.
About 7:45 p.m. Monday, in north Fulton County, a 61-year-old man was struck by a vehicle as he crossed the street at Marietta Highway and Coleman Road, Roswell Police Department spokeswoman Lisa Holland said. The victim, who police identified as Brian Farnsworth of Roswell, died at the scene, Holland said.
No other details were released.
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