Police recover vehicle sought in hit-and-run
Vacationing couple hit Dec. 3 while walking near CityPlace.
A Tennessee man walking with his wife and son near CityPlace on Dec. 3 was struck and killed.
WEST PALM BEACH — City police say they’ve recovered a vehicle they believe struck and killed a Tennessee man in a hit-and-run crash last month east of CityPlace.
Paul McKee was killed late on Dec. 3 as he and his wife walked in the area of Hibiscus Street and Quadrille Boulevard.
McKee’s wife, Alicia, suffered serious injuries and was hospitalized. Police said she now is back home in Knoxville, Tenn.
Witnesses described a light-colored Mazda Tribute SUV leaving the scene, and police have said they have been looking for a middle-aged woman who was driving the missing vehicle.
Investigators recovered a vehi- cle over the weekend, Sgt. David Lefont said Tuesday morning.
“Unfortunately, details about the recovery cannot be released at this time. This remains an active investigation, and our goal is to provide justice for Paul and his wife,” Lefont said.
McKee owned a business that installed highend audio-video systems and was on a “working vacation” in Palm Beach County to help set up an Apple Store, a family member said.
The McKees were with their 12-year-old son, who was not injured and is in the care of family members, police said. They also have a daughter in her 20s, who was expecting the couple’s first grandchild at the time of the
hit-and-run.
Hit-and-run crashes have become common in Palm Beach County. It had the third-highest total in Florida in 2016 with 7,694 — an average of 21 a day countywide, according to statistics from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. The vast majority of these crashes were vehicle-on-vehicle.
In 2015, the most recent year for which statistics are available, there were 604 incidents in which a vehicle struck a pedestrian — 35 of which were fatal, state statistics show.
Under Mayor Jeri Muoio, West Palm Beach officials have stressed the need for a “walkable” city, in terms of traffic safety and quality of life.
Planners and consultants for the city have studied ways to reduce car congestion in streets such as Okeechobee Boulevard, just south of the crash site.
The area near where the crash occurred is often clogged with cars, but police said that wasn’t the case at the time of the crash. Investigators say the couple had been walking near the Publix grocery store at the north end of CityPlace. Witnesses told investigators they might have crossed into the intersection at a stop signal.
Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call West Palm Beach police at 561-822-1900.