A man walking in a Maplewood street was fatally hit by a large van, and the driver who fled the scene and was arrested later that day in southern Minnesota, officials said.
Police said they were notified about 4:30 a.m. about the man being down in the road in the 2300 block of Maryland Avenue E.
Officers arrived and saw the 31-year-old victim with injuries “consistent with being struck by a vehicle,” a police statement read.
Emergency medical personnel and officers provided immediate aid to the man before he was pronounced dead shortly before 5 a.m. Officials identified the victim as Abdul Bakr Jafar, 31, of St. Paul.
Police Lt. Joe Steiner said Jafar was walking “in the roadway” on westbound Maryland when he was hit.
A witness told police about seeing a large conversion van with a ladder rack near the man before it drove off.
“Investigators obtained vehicle information and surveillance video from a nearby residence that captured the incident,” the police statement continued.
The driver was tracked down about 11 a.m. and arrested at his home in Sleepy Eye, about 125 miles away. Charges have yet to be filed against him. The Star Tribune generally does not identify suspects before they are charged.
