Driver arrested in east side hit-and-run has hit-and-run on record

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- We are learning more about a 48-year-old man arrested in connection with a fatal hit-and-run crash that occurred Sunday night, August 11th on the city's east side.

32-year-old Andrea Barringer was killed after an SUV struck her Sunday night outside the Comet Cafe, near Farwell and Irving.

Witnesses say the SUV was speeding.

The driver, a 48-year-old man whom we are not naming because he has not yet been charged, stayed at the scene after the crash -- but only briefly. He was later taken into custody, after a citizen tip led investigators to an apartment complex on Prospect, where the SUV was discovered.

Tony Busalacchi worried something like this would happen. The feisty Korean War veteran lives on Prospect Avenue, not far from the scene of Sunday's deadly crash. 

Busalacchi says twice this summer, he was nearly run over in the neighborhood where Sunday's crash occurred.

"On both occasions, I had my cane with me and on both occasions I was able to hit the cars. Neither time did the driver stop to see if they had caused some kind of an accident. Gross irresponsibility.  And I can’t imagine what goes through the head of a person like this. What are they thinking of?" Busalacchi said.

Court records for the driver arrested show he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor hit-and-run back in 2007.

As for Barringer, FOX6 News has learned she was recently engaged. She was a grad student, pursuing a Master's Degree in art therapy from Mount Mary College.

"I certainly hope the person has a conscience and this thing haunts him for the rest of his life – the fact he has taken away a youthful person," Busalacchi said.

Milwaukee police say the case will be handed over to the District Attorney's Office for charges.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee's DPW says crews plan to paint lines to make a marked crosswalk in the area where Barringer was struck.