Authorities search for driver in fatal Mendocino hit and run crash

<p>Authorities are searching for a white vehicle they say struck and killed a pedestrian on Highway 101 in northern Mendocino County and then took off early Thursday morning, the CHP said.</p><p>“The car actually stops, according to witnesses, and the driver actually checked on the pedestrian then went back to the car and took off and just left him there to die,” CHP Sgt. Martin Abshire said.</p><p>The incident occurred around 2:30 a.m. Thursday about five miles north of Laytonville and one mile from the Black Oak Ranch, also known as the Hog Farm, where organizers are getting ready for this weekend’s Earthdance Northern California, authorities said.</p><p>Witnesses said a white Chevrolet Tahoe, Suburban or pickup with a camper shell was headed northbound when it struck the man, who had been on the shoulder, Abshire said.</p><p>The vehicle continued northbound after the driver climbed out, then got back in.</p><p>The pedestrian was pronounced dead by fire personnel called to the scene to help, Abshire said.</p><p>Investigators found on the roadway pieces of a front grill and a Chevrolet emblem they believe came from the suspect vehicle, he said.</p><p>A half-dozen CHP officers and Humboldt County sheriff’s deputies scoured the area afterward without finding the driver, though they were continuing to search after sunrise, Abshire said.</p><p>“We still have people out searching backroads and parks and this and that,” he said. “So far we don’t have a driver or a vehicle."</p>