One person dead after van strikes pedestrian on Veterans Parkway

PEDESTRIAN FATAL
First responders were on the scene Wednesday evening of a fatal van-pedestrian accident on northbound Veterans Parkway and Fort Jesse Road.. (Photo by Howard Packowitz/WJBC)

 

By Howard Packowitz

NORMAL – A pedestrian was hit by a van and killed about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday on northbound Veterans Parkway, just north of Fort Jesse Road in northeast Normal.

Normal Police said the pedestrian, who was an adult, was crossing Veterans and killed by the vehicle traveling northbound. It’s not known whether the person was using the crosswalk.

McLean County Coroner Kathy Yoder will release the victim’s identity after she notifies relatives, and an autopsy is completed to determine the cause of death.

Police closed off northbound Veterans, between Fort Jesse and Shepard Road, while an accident reconstruction team investigated what happened, according to Normal Police Lt. Nick Thacker.

“They’ll look at all physical evidence that’s on scene, anything that was on the person, anything from the vehicle,” said Thacker.

“They have a machine that will take measurements to hopefully gauge speeds, impacts, skid marks, things of that nature,” Thacker said.

Anyone who may have witnessed the accident is asked to call Normal Police at 309-454-9535.

“I don’t know where they were hit. I don’t know if they were in the crosswalk, or not,” Thacker said.

“Those are all things we’ll look at. I can tell you Fort Jesse at Veterans is one of the busiest intersections in town,” he added.

Wednesday night’s fatal accident came 41 days after an 18-year old man was hit while crossing Veterans Parkway, near East Empire Street in Bloomington.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]

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