Local News

Police seek driver after hit-and-run on UMass campus seriously injures student

The crash follows less than a month after a 19-year-old student was struck and killed on the Amherst campus.

An aerial view of the UMass Amherst campus. Blake Nissen for The Boston Globe, File

March 22, 2022

Authorities are asking for the public’s help finding the driver of an SUV allegedly involved in a Monday hit-and-run on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus that left a pedestrian seriously injured.

The crash follows less than a month after 19-year-old UMass student Elena Lucore was struck and killed by a car as she walked on the school grounds.

Police investigators determined the pedestrian in Monday’s crash was crossing Massachusetts Avenue in a crosswalk near Sunset Avenue around 10:15 p.m. and had nearly reached the other side when a white or silver colored SUV struck him with the front driver’s side of the vehicle at a high rate of speed, according to the Northwestern County District Attorney’s Office. The vehicle didn’t stop and continued eastbound on Massachusetts Avenue. The pedestrian, a 20-year-old UMass Amherst student, was taken to Baystate Medical Center where he remained Tuesday morning with serious injuries.

The suspect vehicle. – Northwestern County District Attorney’s Office

Police have issued a BOLO for the SUV, and the crash remains under investigation by the UMass Police Department and state police.

“We are not only appealing to the public for their help identifying the driver involved in this incident, but appealing to the driver as well,” Northwestern First Assistant District Attorney Steven Gagne said in a statement. “What happened last night is likely weighing on their conscience, and this is their opportunity to do the right thing by coming forward.”

Anyone with any information about the SUV or the crash is being asked to contact UMass police at 413-545-2121 or 413-545-TIPS (8477).