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Victim identified in fatal Spring Garden accident

The 79-year-old Montgomery County man who died Wednesday after being struck by a car in the city's Spring Garden section was identified by a relative Thursday as Wei Li of Blue Bell.

The 79-year-old Montgomery County man who died Wednesday after being struck by a car in the city's Spring Garden section was identified by a relative Thursday as Wei Li of Blue Bell.

In a brief interview at the family's home, Yongli Min, Li's son-in-law, said he had just returned from visiting his mother-in-law, Jufang He, 77, who was trying to cope with the loss of her husband.

Li and his wife were on the sidewalk in front of the Highway Tabernacle in the 1800 block of Spring Garden Street when he was hit and pinned beneath a car about 4:30 p.m., police said.

The driver of a vehicle on North 18th Street had driven through a red light and crashed into another vehicle at Spring Garden, according to Officer Tanya Little, a police spokeswoman. The first vehicle then ran up on the sidewalk, striking the couple, Little said.

Li was pronounced dead at 5:03 p.m. at Hahnemann University Hospital. His wife was in stable condition at Hahnemann.

Min said the couple had been in Philadelphia to shop. "All their lives, they've been very cautious," Min said of his in-laws, who immigrated from China in the mid-2000s.

The drivers of both vehicles were listed in stable condition at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Police identified one of the drivers as a 30-year-old woman and the other as a 53-year-old woman.

The accident remained under investigation Thursday. No charges had been filed.