Car slams into crowd holding vigil

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN/WDTN) - A vigil for fatal hit-and-run victim Robert Brown Jr. turned into mayhem Friday evening as a car crashed into the crowd, sending at least four, possibly five, people to the hospital.

"I couldn't ask for more in a son," Robert Brown Sr. said just prior to the vigil.

He barely got the words out when it happened. We didn't catch it on tape, but you can hear the unmistakable sound of a car hitting one person, then three more. Four people in all were left lying on Hylda Street, not far from where reporter Natalie Jovonovich was interviewing the family of Brown Jr ., 23, who was killed in a hit-skip accident early Sunday morning.

Witnesses said a car turned off its lights, sped up, sideswiped a vehicle on the street and slammed into the crowd of approximately 30 people, then sped away. Everyone was screaming and crying as the victims flew into the air from the impact.

"All of a sudden there was a white Sunfire that came down the street at top speed with its lights off and hit four gentlemen that were walking down the street, and two of the gentlemen were actually thrown up in the air several feet and one of them came down on his head," said witness Laura Bell.

All of the victims went by ambulance to St. Elizabeth Health Center. Police were not yet confirming their identities.

"And it's just unbelievable. We're here for a candlelight vigil, paying respect for the one that we just lost and somebody comes down the street and does this," Bell said.

Family and friends of Brown had planned for the vigil to be near the corner of West Hylda and Market Street, where Brown was hit early Sunday while walking to his truck following a family party at Ducka's Bar. At the last minute, they decided to move the candlelight vigil into the parking lot of an old post office nearby, to keep those attending off the street.

"It had to be intentional. They hit their lights, turned their lights off, they came down the street at top speed. You cannot possibly have any kind of care about life that you can purposely drive down the street at top speed, all these people outside, and just purposely hit those four gentlemen and keep going," Bell said.

Youngstown police took statements from everyone on scene, even those who didn't see much of anything. Police said they are looking for a white Pontiac Sunfire.
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