Two fatal accidents have encouraged the Sioux Falls Police Department to remind the public of safety on the roads. One involved a hit and run, and the other saw a person fall from a train.
The two accidents took place over the last weekend in Sioux Falls and prompted a response from the local police department urging responsibility.
Sam Clemens is the SFPD spokesperson.
“There are protections allowed to pedestrians, so there’s times when you’re crossing in a crosswalk when you’re protected, but pedestrians still need to beware of traffic," Clemens said. "Just because you have the right to cross and motorists are supposed to yield to you, doesn’t mean the motorist is paying attention.”
Clemens then detailed the two incidents, beginning with the fatal hit and run early Saturday morning.
“As detectives have been investigating this one of the things that they’ve been using is surveillance cameras and traffic cameras," Clemens said. "They believe there’s a possibility there may have been some witnesses to this, so if anybody had any information, if they saw anything unusual that time of morning, we’d like them to call police or Crimestoppers.”
That crash took the life of 28-year-old Veronica Honkamp-Martin. A suspect vehicle is identified, but no arrests have been made.
The second incident was a pure accident involving a train Sunday evening at the 8th and Weber crossing.
“There was a slow-moving train that was crossing the road, and we had a pedestrian that jumped the train – apparently maybe trying to cross the train," Clemens said. "That woman fell from the train and was run over by the train and died on scene.”
That victim has only been identified as a 29-year-old woman.