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Pedestrian killed crossing highway was fleeing shoplifter, cops say

Police say a man hit by a car Thursday while crossing Kirkwood Highway on foot was actually a shoplifter fleeing the scene of his crime.

Pedestrians get hit by cars all the time. Just yesterday, Transportation for America came out with a report revealing that more than 47,000 pedestrians were killed in the United States between 2000 and 2009, most in preventable accidents.

But this pedestrian fatality out of Delaware is a bit unusual: Police say a man hit by a car Thursday while crossing Kirkwood Highway on foot was actually a shoplifter fleeing the scene of his crime.

Police this morning identified him as Sean Jones, 40, of New Castle. He died about 10:25 a.m. Sunday at Christiana Hospital, three days after a New Castle woman driving a Ford Taurus hit him at about 9 p.m. on Kirkwood Highway near Limestone Road, according to Delaware State Police. The impact knocked him 30 feet through the air. It also knocked multiple bottles of lotion and hand soap out of Jones' pockets, scattering them throughout the accident scene. Investigators soon determined Jones had shoplifted the toiletries from the nearby Deals Store minutes before the crash, according to state police.

Investigators on Friday charged him with shoplifting, crossing the roadway outside the crosswalk and failing to carry a light while in the road.