Pedestrian Dies in Brooklyn Hit-and-Run

A 45-year-old woman was killed in a hit-and-run incident in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. WABC 7 reports that Stacey Blount, "a long-time customer at a hair salon at Mother Gaston Boulevard and Sutter Avenue," "had taken her two children in to wish everyone a happy 2009 and then walked out around 7:00 p.m." When she stepped into the street, a van (which seemed to be going 95-100 m.p.h.) hit her. The police had apparently been "following" (but not chasing) the van, which was later found abandoned. Blount was pronounced dead at Brookdale Hospital. Two other people died in vehicle-related incidents: A woman in Queens was fatally struck by an allegedly drunk driver while a man in Brooklyn was dead after an accident on Third Avenue.