The woman accused of hitting and killing a University of Cincinnati student on I-71 early Sunday morning is being booked into the Hamilton County Jail.
21-year old Lauren Balint is charged with leaving the scene of accident - which is a felony charge.
Police say Balint hit Christopher Walker as he tried to cross I-71 north at the bottom of the ramp from McMillan. The car was later found dumped at a gas station off the Montgomery Road exit.
The owner of the car was also cited for not having valid insurance at the time of the crash.
Balint will be in court Thursday morning.
Story filed on February 25, 2013
Investigators from the Cincinnati Police Traffic unit are trying to connect the dots on a deadly hit and run on I-71 -- and they're hoping you can help. University of Cincinnati student Christopher Walker was hit and killed trying to get across the northbound lanes of the interstate early yesterday morning.
Local 12's Rich Jaffe learned today that Walker was hit and killed at the I-71, 3.3 mile marker. That's virtually the bottom of the long ramp from McMillan down to 71 northbound. Police are still trying to figure out what Walker was doing there at 2 a.m. on Sunday.
Walker was a third year architecture student at UC's College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning. Lt. Bruce Hoffbauer of the Cincinnati Police Traffic Unit says, "We really just need to know what took Mr. Walker out onto I-71 at 2 o'clock in the morning. We would like to know where he was before hand, what he was doing and if anyone was with him, they could help us out. What his intentions were what his destination was those types of things."
The car that allegedly hit Walker took off, then turned off the interstate at the Montgomery Road exit. Police say the four occupants dumped the car at a gas station then called for someone else to pick them up. Officers found the car and traced it back to the owner, 26 year old William Suddeth who was one of the passengers. Occupants of the car say 21-year-old Lauren Balint was behind the wheel. By the time police got to Balint, it was too long after the accident to determine whether she had been drinking.
Investigators say their preliminary investigation says alcohol was not a factor in Walker's behavior. "There's four people in the car, and we're gonna have four versions of what happened. Were they all together all night? Do they know this individual that was struck and killed?"
At this point no charges have been filed yet in the case. Once a few more questions are answered police will present it to the Hamilton County Prosecutor for consideration.
If you have any information about either the victim or the people in the car, call Crimestoppers at 352-3040.
