Late Thursday afternoon, while Thanksgiving rituals unfurled in rowhouses and neighborhoods across Philadelphia, Rosa Mar Espinosa Rodas took her final steps.
Espinosa Rodas, 41, was struck by a black 2012 Honda Accord at 36th and Market Streets in University City about 3:50 p.m., according to preliminary information released Friday by Philadelphia police.
After hitting Espinosa Rodas, the Honda’s driver didn’t stop. Instead, police said, the car continued eastbound along Market Street, where it then crashed into a Buick LaCrosse near 34th Street.
The driver of the Honda attempted to flee on foot, but was apprehended by police a few blocks from the second crash scene.
Police identified the motorist as Shamir Miller, 30.
Miller was charged with murder, homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, and nine other offenses, court records show.
His bail was set at $3 million, and he is scheduled to face a preliminary hearing on Dec. 15.
Medics pronounced Espinosa Rodas dead on Market Street, police said. CBS3 reported that Espinosa Rodas had worked nearby and was on her lunch break when she was fatally struck.
The driver of the Buick, a 41-year-old woman, was admitted to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center with neck and back injuries and was listed Friday in stable condition.
Miller was also treated at Penn Presbyterian for head injuries.
On Nov. 20 — a week before Espinosa Rodas was killed — a nearby stretch of Market Street was the scene of another fatal hit-and-run crash.
Early that morning, the driver of a silver Chrysler 300 with tinted windows struck Meaza Brown at 33rd and Market.
Police said that Brown, 48, was hit at such a high rate of speed that she was “launched out of her sneakers” and propelled through the air for several hundred feet. She was pronounced dead at Penn Presbyterian.
Investigators later found the Chrysler at 34th and Race Streets, but no arrests have been reported.
» READ MORE: Philly wants to set its own speed limits, and other highlights of the city’s new Vision Zero report
The city, as part of its Vision Zero plan to reduce traffic deaths, is seeking from state legislators the authority to set speed limits for local roadways, and to expand its use of automated speed enforcement cameras, The Inquirer reported this week.
Last year, the city recorded 120 vehicle crash deaths, a 41% increase from 2015, when the Vision Zero program began.