By Delayna Earley
The Island News
A 39-year-old Ridgeland man was killed on Sunday morning after he was hit by a vehicle while walking on the side of the road on Highway 170 at Broad River Bridge.
Dontay Frost died from blunt force injuries sustained in a “motor vehicle collision versus pedestrian accident” according to a release from the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office on Monday, April 28.
According to Mst. Trooper William Bennett with the South Carolina Highway Patrol, the accident occurred on Sunday, April 27, around 11:50 p.m. near Lemon Island, about five miles west of the City of Beaufort.
The vehicle, which has since been identified as a 2016-2018 Honda Civic, was traveling west when the vehicle struck Frost in the roadway and then fled the scene.
The collision remains under investigation by S.C. Highway Patrol.
According to the incident report filed with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Department (BCSO), the 911 call was made by Frost’s girlfriend, who stated that “her boyfriend had been hit by a car on the highway, which then fled the scene.”
The report also states that Frost was pronounced dead upon arrival of emergency services.
S.C. Highway Patrol is asking for help from the public to locate the vehicle that was involved in the fatal hit and run collision.
According to a release put out on Tuesday, April 29, the suspect was driving a 2016-2018 Honda Civic, and the color of the vehicle is currently unknown to law enforcement. The vehicle should have damage to the lower front passenger side of the car.
The vehicle was last seen travelling westbound on Highway 170 toward Bluffton.
A second vehicle, an SUV, may have sustained undercarriage damage and the vehicle was also last seen traveling westbound on Highway 170 toward Bluffton.
Anyone with information about the identity of those responsible is asked to submit your anonymous tip by calling the S.C. Highway Patrol at 843-953-6010 or 1-800-768-1501, Crime Stoppers or dial *HP on your phone.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
