news-record.com

GREENSBORO - Police crash investigators are responding to an abnormally high number of traffic accidents involving pedestrians the past couple of months.

Three people have been killed and four injured after being struck by vehicles. The number of fatalities is the same as recorded for all of 2007 and more than were killed in 2008.

Investigators aren't able to identify a reason for the increase, but note alcohol usually plays a factor in such accidents.

Sgt. J.R. Franks, who supervises the department's traffic safety unit, said he had never encountered so many fatal accidents involving pedestrians.

A Greensboro man died Wednesday after being seriously injured when he tried to cross U.S. 29 on Feb. 27. Police said 35-year-old Anastacio Chelel Cruz was intoxicated when he tried to cross the highway and that may have contributed to the accident.

On Feb. 16, a woman died after being struck by a car on East Bessemer Avenue. In that accident, alcohol was not a factor, police said.

And on Jan. 30, a man who was intoxicated died after being hit by a car on South Elm-Eugene Street.

This year, officers in the police department's traffic safety unit have begun categorizing pedestrians killed or injured in traffic accidents. Previously, such injuries and deaths were so rare they were treated as individual cases.

Three of the four pedestrians struck and injured by cars this year have been public safety workers at crime scenes. Officer Matt O'Hal was injured when he was pinned between a suspect's car and his police vehicle at the end of a high-speed chase after a bank robbery on Feb. 9. O'Hal was also shot during the incident but is recovering.

Two firefighters working at the scene of a car accident were injured when a driver passing by drove into them, according to police. That driver, Kristin Nicole Spires, was intoxicated, police said.

Contact Sonja Elmquist at 373-7090 or sonja.elmquist@news-record.com