No one hurt in hit-and-run

Tanith L. Balaban Arizona Daily Wildcat A tower pulls the cables over to upright Brenda Houser's Jeep, which was hit on the corner of Sixth Street and Euclid yesterday around 5 p.m. Traffic was backed up to Campbell Ave. after the hit-and-run accident. No one was hurt.

Witnesses at the scene of the wreck, which occurred shortly after 5 p.m., said a cream-colored Buick smashed into a southbound Jeep Wrangler, flipping the Jeep before fleeing north on Euclid.

The driver of the Buick was heading north on Euclid when he crashed into the Wrangler, which was turning left onto eastbound Sixth Street, witnesses said.

The Jeep overturned into the crosswalk and the Buick backed up, then continued north on Euclid.

Brenda Houser, the Jeep's driver, said she was waiting in the intersection to turn left when the green light turned to amber and she made her turn.

Houser said she didn't see the other car until it hit her.

Brandon Hendrickson, a pre-pharmacy sophomore at the University of Arizona, was waiting at the red light on westbound Sixth Street when he saw the wreck happen in front of him.

"I heard the screeching and then I saw her (Houser) tip over," said Hendrickson, who jumped from his car to help Houser climb out of the Jeep.

"He [the driver of the Buick] started driving away slow, and we thought he was going to pull over, but he kept going," Hendrickson said. "His car was banged up. I mean the hood was all crunched up. It looked bad. I don't think he could have driven far."

He didn't.

Police found the car four blocks north of the crash in the parking lot of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, 830 N. First Ave.

Witnesses reported seeing the driver abandon the car and walk west on East Second Street, said Tucson police Officer J.J. Richardson.

"We have some good leads on who this guy is, so we will probably catch him," Richardson said.

Houser, who was wearing her seat belt, said she was not hurt.

"I should try going home and checking my blood pressure though," Houser said. "I think from now on, I'm only going to make right turns."