A vehicle has been recovered but the driver of it remains at large in connection with a Friday hit-and-run collision that took the life of an Oakland mother outside her child's school.
The victim has been identified as 40-year-old Miesha Singleton, a married mother of seven whose children range in age from 3 to 22. As KPIX reports, Singleton's husband was "carrying intense anger" at a vigil Monday night at the accident site outside Elmhurst Middle School, vowing to personally slow vehicles down that he sees driving too fast on 98th Avenue.
Oakland police say they have found the white Nissan Maxima that struck Singleton, and while the car was not stolen, they have not yet identified or located the driver, and they are hoping he or she will still come forward. Police are seeking community tips and surveillance video to help identify the driver. A $10,000 reward is now being offered for information leading to the arrest of the driver, and Oakland police can be reached at 510-777-8570.
Oakland Police Traffic Investigators announce the recovery of the vehicle used in the fatal hit/run that occurred on Jan 17, 2020 in the 1800 block of 98th Ave. Community tips lead investigators to recover the Nissan maxima. Help ID driver. 10k reward. Call 510-777-8570 pic.twitter.com/ayq07tqqtz
— Oakland Police Dept. (@oaklandpoliceca) January 21, 2020
Singleton's was the first of three hit-and-run fatalities in the East Bay over the holiday weekend. The second occurred early Sunday morning in Oakland's Grand Lake neighborhood, when a woman in a Subaru Outback was struck and killed by an Audi A4 that fled the scene. That victim has been identified as 42-year-old Brooke Smith of Oakland. That vehicle has not yet been found, nor has its driver or passenger.
The third person killed was a female pedestrian on University Avenue in Berkeley on Monday morning. As ABC 7 explains, a car was parked on Sixth Street near University when police officers heard a woman screaming inside it and pulled up behind it. The woman was being physically assaulted, and as the police car approached, the car took off, making a U-turn and striking the woman on the sidewalk along University Avenue. The car took off toward the freeway and the police lost it. The suspect vehicle has only been identified as a gray, four-door Nissan sedan, though police may also have a license plate number.
The victim in the collision has not yet been identified.
As Bay City News reports, streets in the area of the accident were closed until around 7:30 p.m. Monday evening. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Berkeley Police homicide 510-981-5741.