A 60-year-old Colorado Springs high school teacher was the victim of a hit-and-run accident at about 6:24 p.m. Tuesday near his school, police Detective Pat Turechek said today.
Bob Crowder, the Palmer High School choir director, was crossing Platte Avenue when he was struck by a dark, newer model Nissan or Subaru, said Turechek.
Crowder suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries, including a broken leg, a fractured hip, broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and a possible head injury, said the detective.
“He didn’t remember the accident,” said Turechek. “He remembers starting to cross and then waking up in the hospital.”
Witnesses told police the well-dressed driver of the car “was pushing the light,” meaning he may have run a red light and hit Crowder as he stepped into the crosswalk near North Weber Street.
Witnesses said the driver — a white male, wearing a white dress shirt with tie and blazer — stopped his car a short distance away.
“He was visibly upset, waving his arms,” Turechek quoted witnesses as saying. He then got back into the car and drove away.
Crowder, who was on his way to a concert at Palmer High School, was taken to Memorial Hospital, where about 50 students and parents went to the emergency room to await word on his condition, Elaine Naleski, School District 11 spokeswoman, told the Gazette newspaper.
The concert was called off.
Turechek said it was dark at the time of the accident and that snow had just begun to fall.
The detective said Colorado Springs police are hopeful the driver will turn himself in.
She added that there should be damage to the front of the car, including the fender, hood and windshield. She said that police believe Crowder was slammed into the windshield.
Anyone with information is asked to call Turechek, a detective with the Major Accident Unit, at 719-444-3186.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
