We are encouraged to report that the trial following the Hit and Run crash that killed Will Lindsay in July of 2020 concluded on December 12th. Both the driver and accomplice were found guilty of their charges.
Background information:
Will Lindsay was riding his bike on Ridge Avenue on July 12, 2020 to meet up with his friends when he was hit by a speeding driver near the intersection of Race and Indiana Ave while legally riding in the shoulder. The driver fled the scene.
Will was employed by WuXi AppTec, after graduating from Immaculata university with a BS in Biology, where he was working in the science field. He enjoyed his job and gained many close friends doing so. He was an outgoing, loving individual who brought a light to this world. Will had a sense of adventure and cycling was one of his favorites.
Family was Will’s priority. He was the oldest brother to Philip and Emma to whom he cherished and a great son to his parents, who he loved and respected dearly. Will was a blessing to his family. He brought many smiles and times of laughter to our daily lives. He is greatly missed but his family knows he will always be with them.
The driver was caught on camera by a nearby business before the crash, the video showed Will riding in front of the driver and going the same direction. The driver left the scene and continued onto the Roosevelt Expressway and then the Boulevard. At this time in 2020, the automated speed cameras had just been installed on the Boulevard in June. During the trial the prosecutor showed that the driver received two violations along the Boulevard shortly after the crash.
The Crash Investigation Division (then called the Accident Investigation Division) of the Philadelphia Police was tipped off after an off duty police officer saw the car involved in the crash at a Auto Body shop in Northeast Philadelphia. Incidents like this one and the crash that killed Jayanna Powell in 2016 are why we have been fighting for Jay Alert for over 7 years, an alert that would specifically go to auto body shops informing them to look for vehicles involved in hit and runs. If the car was not spotted, there is a chance that Will Lindsay’s killer would never have been found.
The owner of the vehicle, who was not driving at the time of the crash, took the vehicle to the auto body shop and the jury found him guilty of knowingly attempting to cover up the hit and run.
An epidemic of fatal hit and runs have plagued Philadelphia since 2020. According to PennDOT crash data, fatal hit and run crashes jumped from 14% of total traffic fatalities in 2019 to 35% in 2023.
2024 data incomplete, data set downloaded on 12/19/24
Every life lost to traffic violence is tragic. For the families of hit and run victims this tragedy comes with the added level that the person who was responsible might never be brought to justice.
Our hearts are with the Lindsay family and hope they feel a moment of closure with this verdict. Thank you for the work that the Crash Investigation Division and the District Attorney’s office, Assistant District Attorney Lauren Crump especially, have done for this case.