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University of Oregon football player arrested following fatal hit-and-run
Sophomore University of Oregon defensive back Daylen Amir Austin was arrested on Monday following a fatal hit-and-run incident that evening, according to police and jail records.
University of Oregon football player arrested following fatal hit-and-run
- By: Ryan Bonham, Jennifer Singh
- Apr 17, 2024 Updated 3 hrs ago
Daylen Amir Austin, a UO football player, is facing a criminal charge after an alleged hit-and-run incident that left a man dead.
EUGENE, Ore. – A University of Oregon football player is facing a felony hit-and-run charge following a fatal incident that happened in the Whiteaker area on Monday evening, according to the Eugene Police Department.
The incident took place on April 15 just after 9 p.m.
Photo courtesy: Seth Lockard
Eugene Police Department officials said that they are investigating a fatal hit and run incident that happened shortly after 9 p.m. on April 15 in the area of West 4th Avenue and Polk Street.
Police arrested 19-year-old Daylen Amir Austin, who is facing a charge of failing to perform the duties of a driver to injured persons, at an apartment at 11:45 p.m. on the same night, authorities said. Dispatch records show that the call initially came in as a stabbing around 9:15 p.m. and the 46-year-old male victim was found in the road with a large laceration to their neck and a hammer nearby. Police would not comment on this 9-1-1 call, saying that it’s a complex investigation and their investigation is ongoing.
Candles were placed on the corner of W. 4th Ave and Polk st.
Austin, who is a sophomore defensive back for the University of Oregon, was arraigned at 1:30 p.m. on April 17 at the Lane County Jail. Austin did not make a plea during his arraignment and was made eligible for conditional release under certain condition, but those conditions are not known at this time. However, jail records show that Austin was released from custody on April 17, 2024, and his next court date is set for May 22.
EPD is still gathering information to be submitted to the Lane County District's Attorney for a final charging decision, but neighbors in the area of where the incident took place said just before the crash, they heard a vehicle driving excessively loud and fast through the neighborhood.
"About 10 'til nine I head a car zooming around the neighborhood up and down what sounded like Polk and then up and down Fourth, and then it sounded like he was behind us," neighbor Seth Lockard said. "It just sounded like he was doing circles for about 10-15 minutes going really fast."
A University of Oregon football player is facing charges on felony hit and run.
Photo
Lockard said he and his wife who were home at the time, did not think much of it, as the area is notorious for speeders who often attempt to drive through the neighborhood to avoid traffic on the nearby main road.
"My wife heard a thump and that was real rough and she didn't really put it together," Lockard said. "She said, 'I think they may have hit a tree or something,' and then I heard a bunch of sirens and then I came out and saw kind of the scene which was rough."
Neighbors like Anthony Sharpy said the scene lasted for hours, as even the blood from the scene was left on the street into the morning.
"The next morning when I drove by, there was still just puddles of blood and some gloves in the street, so I put some hydrogen peroxide on the blood and put 5-gallon buckets of water on it to try and wash it away because people walk their dogs right there, there's flies and birds flying around..." Sharpy said. "We just didn't want to see the blood in the street."
As neighbors and police are still piecing the evidence together, neighbors are still piecing the night together, wanting to know who died in their neighborhood and what exactly happened.
"We haven't heard anything about it, they didn't release a person had been killed, but obviously someone had been killed; I had to clean the blood off the street you know," Sharpy said. "We just want to know who died because we know all the people that, if it's a transient person, we know people that live in our neighborhood whether they're homeless or live in houses, so we just want to know who it is and we hope that they're family knows."
Neighbors were also shocked when they heard the suspect is a 19-year-old football player with UO.
"It's super sad." Sharpy said. "It must be tragic and hard for anybody to cause an injury to somebody like that."
KEZI reached out to the University of Oregon, and they said they are still gathering information.
KEZI will bring the latest on the investigation as details unfold.
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