On Wednesday morning, Montgomery County police found a white Acura allegedly involved in Friday’s fatal hit-and-run in Silver Spring, police Capt. Warren Jensen said at a press conference at the county’s Public Safety Headquarters in Gaithersburg.
Jensen, director of the department’s Traffic Operations Division, said he does not have information on the car’s driver yet and there have been no arrests.
“We are still urging the members of the community to come forward with any information that would help us with that case as the investigation is still in its infancy,” Jensen said.
On Monday, police identified the victim of a second hit-and-run crash that occurred after midnight that day and also allegedly involved a white Acura as Jacques Price, 26, of Silver Spring.
Though both incidents are alleged to have involved white Acura TL sedans from similar model years, police said Wednesday the two collisions involved separate vehicles.
“There have been several social media posts stating that these two collisions involve the same vehicle and are somehow related. I can definitively say that is not true,” said Assistant Chief Marc Yamada, who is part of the county police’s Field Services Bureau.
In Friday’s incident, a white Honda Odyssey was traveling westbound around 10:12 p.m. on Randolph Road when it mounted the curb and struck Ronaldo Franzese, 52, of Silver Spring, which caused him to fall into the roadway. He was then struck by a white Acura TL from the model years 2009 to 2012, police said. The driver of the Acura fled the scene without rendering aid to Franzese, who was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.
Police did not say whether the driver of the Honda Odyssey remained at the scene.
In the second incident occurring after midnight Monday in Wheaton, police said that Price was riding his skateboard on Veirs Mills Road in Wheaton, near Monterrey Drive, when he was struck by a white Acura traveling westbound. The driver fled the area, and Price was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.
Jensen said police have not located the vehicle involved In Monday’s collision and ask for the public’s assistance in finding another white Acura TL, from the model years 2009-2014, that is believed to have damage to the front passenger side, a missing portion of the front bumper cover and possibly a missing or broken headlight and fog light.
“This vehicle could be parked somewhere out of sight and parked in a way to hide its damage to the front end,” Jensen said. “It could be covered with a tarp or similar item.”
He urged anyone with information about the vehicle or incident to call Collision Reconstruction Unit detectives at 240-773-6620.
Jensen said that in the aftermath of two pedestrian deaths, more patrol units are being deployed to the incident sites to help prevent other tragedies from occurring.
“Whenever we make deployment decisions based on our central traffic officers, our alcohol enforcement officers and the district patrol officers, we study fatal collisions, injury collisions, property damage collisions, traffic in the area and the amount of violations, so [these incidents] will adjust our deployments, and we will respond,” Jensen said.