We look at the press release that Ruth put into the HOT file. It’s from Issaquah Police, looking for a truck driver who struck a woman, then kept going, leaving her crumpled in the road. The woman matches the description of Karin’s friend Uta, who is visiting from Austria. Uta had taken a bus to Issaquah, after spending the day with her childhood friend in Seattle. She was going to rest at Karin’s place, while Karin worked her night shift with us. Karin had been trying to reach her all evening, but gotten no answer.

Now, she looked at us, and we looked back, panic in all of our hearts. Suddenly, the newscast didn’t matter. The video from Pakistan didn’t matter. All we cared about was getting Karin to Harborview Medical Center, to her friend’s side.

Our Managing Editor, Ed, volunteered to drive. The rest of us turned back to the newscast, promising to join him after the show.

All I can think about now is how many “hit and run” accidents we’ve covered over the past year (here's the story about Uta), and how many families are dealing with heartbreak and the frustration that the person who struck and injured or killed their loved one is still out there, somewhere. Three of those accidents involved people in our own newsroom. One accident killed a reporter’s mother.

Over the weekend, as he helped pick out flowers to lay at the site where Uta was hit, my 11 year old son asked why the driver didn’t stop. I told him maybe the driver didn’t realize he or she had hit a person. He said he hoped the person saw the news over the weekend, and would come forward. I do, too.