Flier campaign seeks leads on Dec. 14 hit-and-run driver

Flier campaign seeks leads on Dec. 14 hit-and-run driverJanuary 18, 2002Kevin Morrowkdmorrow@syr.edu

A group of 30-35 volunteers will assemble at the Westcott Community Center at 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20, to distribute hundreds of fliers seeking information on a hit-and-run driver who critically injured a Syracuse University student along the 600 block of Euclid Avenue in mid-December.

Lisa Ellis, 20, a junior in SU’s L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science, suffered severe head trauma requiring emergency brain surgery at University Hospital. She is recovering at the Rehabilitation Institute of Morristown (N.J.) Memorial Hospital. Ellis’ head injuries affected the left side of her body; she is slowly regaining the use of her left arm, leg and eye, and is able to walk with some difficulty.

At about 10:25 p.m. on Dec. 14, Ellis was standing with another individual alongside a parked car outside her Euclid Avenue apartment. A vehicle speeding westbound on Euclid struck both individuals and then sped away. The second victim was treated at University Hospital and released; Ellis was admitted in critical condition. Following surgery, Ellis remained at University Hospital until she regained sufficient strength to be transported by ambulance to Morristown Memorial Hospital, near her home in Randolph, N.J., on Christmas Eve.

The Syracuse Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division (442-5222) is asking the public for leads on the identity of the driver and the vehicle, which may be a 1989 to 1991 Chevrolet Lumina, Pontiac Grand Prix or Buick Regal.

Syracuse University this week printed 7,000 informational fliers to aid the SPD in its investigation.

On Sunday afternoon, as many as half of the fliers will be distributed by Ellis’ housemates and other SU students, SU faculty and staff, local neighbors and SPD officers. Distribution will be house-to-house along Euclid Avenue (from Comstock Avenue to Westcott Street) and along several blocks branching off of Euclid Avenue.

In addition, tavern owners along Marshall Street and South Crouse Avenue have agreed to post fliers in their businesses and distribute others to their fellow merchants; Syracuse University will post fliers in residence halls and elsewhere on campus; Le Moyne College, which like SU has many students living off campus in the Euclid Avenue area, has agreed to post fliers on its campus; SPD officer Steve Weigl, community policing officer in the Westcott neighborhood, is delivering fliers to merchants along Westcott Street; and neighborhood groups are placing information on the incident in their upcoming newsletters.