The woman who was run over on a Twin Cities interstate in a suspected hit-and-run incident had crashed her vehicle and gotten out before she was struck, authorities said Sunday.
The State Patrol has been looking since early Friday for the motorist who struck and killed Aelicia Taylor, 38, of St. Paul, on Interstate 694 in Vadnais Heights.
Taylor was run over in the eastbound lanes of the freeway near Edgerton Street about 2:40 a.m., said Patrol Sgt. Jesse Grabow.
"Preliminary information indicates she had crashed her car — hit a guardrail — and then, for some unknown reason, entered the lanes of traffic [on foot] and was struck," Grabow said Sunday.
State Department of Public Safety guidelines caution occupants of a disabled vehicle to "stay in your vehicle if you can with your seat belt fastened" in situations such as these.
"You are safest inside your vehicle," the guidelines continue. "If you need to exit the vehicle, attempt to exit on the non-traffic side."
While authorities have classified this incident as a hit-and-run, "the driver of the suspect vehicle ... may not have known they struck a person," a statement from the patrol read.
The patrol described the vehicle it is looking for as a red Audi ranging in model year from 2013 to 2016.
