UPDATED: ERPD Identifies Suspect in Fatal Hit and Run

UPDATE: Rodney Maurice Hill was arrested Wednesday night and released on $15,000 bond. His court date is March 22, 2016 in East Ridge City Court.

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a man that East Ridge police believe was responsible for the death of a pedestrian on Ringgold Road on Dec. 26 of last year.

According to a press release by ERPD, on the morning of December 26, Darrell Lee Carter, was walking eastbound on Ringgold Road. Mr. Carter was crossing Ringgold Road at Blackhawk Trail, when he was struck from behind.

The vehicle that struck Mr. Carter was determined to be a 2013 to 2015 Nissan Sentra. On December 28, 2015, a 2015 Nissan Sentra was found in the possession of Rodney Maurice Hill, in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. Mr. Hill had reported to Fort Oglethorpe police that he struck a deer.

The Nissan Sentra was sent to the TBI Crime Lab in Nashville, and found to be a match with the suspect vehicle. A warrant for Leaving the Scene of a Fatal Crash was issued for Rodney Maurice Hill, through the East Ridge City Court.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.