GREENSBORO, N.C. — It's a crime that often involves a suspect on the run and little evidence left behind.
Police said hit-and-run crashes are challenging to solve. The Greensboro Police Department has a group of officers dedicated to following up on the incidents.
"They're very good about following up and finding parts videos anything that they possibly can to try and find a suspect or try and locate the vehicle that was involved," said Greensboro Police Officer A.D. Reed.
Officer Reed works the crash reconstruction unit and often works with crashes that are deadly or involve serious injuries.
"We work very hard to try to find parts of vehicles, videos, anything that can help us to try and identify the suspect in the hit and run," he said.
There have been 40 hit-and-run crashes involving pedestrians so far this year, three of them deadly, according to Greensboro police.
In 2020, Greensboro Police said there were 53 hit-and-runs involving pedestrians. Three of those incidents were deadly.
In Winston-Salem, the police department said there were 89 pedestrian crashes in 2020, four of which were deadly. So far this year, there are been 75 pedestrian-involved crashes, seven of which were deadly.
Burlington Police said two pedestrians were involved in hit-and-runs so far this year, compared to the five incidents that happened in 2020. None of the incidents last year or this year have been deadly, according to the Burlington Police Department.
High Point Police said the number of hit-and-runs the department has investigated over the last few years has remained steady, but they continue to try and clear hurdles when it comes to solving the crimes.
"When we have a hit-and-run there are witnesses involved so we use those witnesses to get license plates. We also have cameras throughout the city on light poles that we take advantage of and with the advantage of social media were able to put out alerts using crime stoppers tips," said High Point Police Lt. Derek Bostic.