Police searching for suspect in Edgewater fatal hit-and-run

Police are searching for a vehicle involved in a fatal hit-and-run Friday morning on Central Avenue in Edgewater, an Anne Arundel County police spokesman said.

Officers responded to a report of a pedestrian struck on Central Avenue East near Loch Haven Road just after 6 a.m.

A police investigation requiring closure of a portion of Central Avenue tied up early morning eastbound traffic, prompting Anne Arundel County Public Schools officials to close Mayo Elementary School.

Witnesses said they found a man lying in a ditch on the side of the road, police said.

The man, identified by police as David Allen Decheubel Jr., 19, of Edgewater, was unresponsive, witnesses said.

He was later pronounced dead by firefighters, police said.

Police said the preliminary cause of the crash, which likely occurred between 1 and 5 a.m., is unknown.

There were no witnesses to the crash, police said.

Police said they are unsure of specific damage to the vehicle, but expect there would be damage to the front passenger side of the hood, windshield, quarter panel and/or door.

The road reopened just after 8 a.m., according to a tweet sent out by Anne Arundel County Police.

School system spokesman Bob Mosier said Mayo Elementary opens at 8 a.m. and school officials had to make the decision before students began arriving.

Many students who attend Mayo Elementary live on the peninsula and may not have had an issue getting to school, however, many school staff members live off of the peninsula, and likely wouldn't have gotten to school on time, Mosier said.

"We could have had a situation where we had hundreds of kids at the school without staff here," Mosier said.

All other schools will operate on normal schedules for students and staff, with buses providing transportation on a "significantly delayed basis," he said.

Anyone with information about the hit-and-run is asked to contact Anne Arundel County Police through the Metro Crime Stoppers 24-hour toll-free hotline at 1-866-7LOCKUP, by texting "MCS plus your message" to CRIMES (274637) or visiting the website at metrocrimestoppers.org.