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Victim of deadly NOLA hit-and-run ignored by area drivers who swerved around her instead of stopping to assist

3 years 2 weeks 22 hours ago Thursday, March 04 2021 Mar 4, 2021 March 04, 2021 7:03 AM March 04, 2021 in News
Source: WWL-TV
A still from Feb. 27, 2021 video surveillance of a nearby driver stopping to assist a hit and run victim who, though lying in the roadway along St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans, had been ignored by passing drivers.

NEW ORLEANS - A woman who was killed in a hit-and-run on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans was reportedly left in the roadway as multiple area drivers swerved to avoid her and drove away instead of stopping to assist. 

According to a recent WWL-TV report, the 31-year-old victim was Christina Larsen and she'd been walking her dog along St. Charles Avenue and Harmony Street on Saturday (Feb. 27) night when a driver hit her and left the scene.

A woman named Nichole Vogel happened to be in the area as the tragic incident occurred and when she saw Larsen lying in the roadway, she immediately called 911. 

Upset by the entire experience, Vogel explained what happened to WWL-TV, saying, "Just walking her dog for the evening. She had been knocked right out of her shoes. I grabbed her shoes and her bag and put them with her."

Area surveillance video shows Vogel was 10 cars behind the one that hit Larsen. She did not see the hit, but she was shocked by what she did see.

"I watched every car in front of me swerve and keep going," Vogel told WWL-TV.

As Larsen laid seriously injured in the roadway, Vogel said other drivers swerved around her, and drove off.

"My concern was to put the blinkers on and stop and keep traffic from getting any closer to her than it did that's what anybody would do I would think, but I was furious at the people who went around her," Vogel said.

"You can see people passing by, stopping like to see what's going on and then pulls off. There's something wrong with that picture," said Mavis Woods who was working at 3201 St. Charles when tenants began running outside to help. "That was a really bad hit."

After hitting Larsen, the driver is seen in video turning right onto the next street. According to the New Orleans Police Department, the driver then abandoned the car and fled.

Larsen was rushed to a hospital, but did not survive.

She was an artist and a designer at NOLA Couture; her dog, Hubert, was reunited with Larsen's loved ones.

New Orleans Police are investigating the hit and run and ask that anyone with information please contact NOPD Traffic Fatality Investigator Danny Ellis at 504-658-6205 or anonymously call Crimestoppers of Greater New Orleans at 504-822-1111.

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