Woman arrested in fatal Kansas hit-and-run of elderly man

CLAY CENTER, Kan. – A northcentral Kansas woman is awaiting her first court appearance in a hit-and-run accident that killed an elderly man.

Clay County Sheriff Chuck Dunn says the Clay County resident was arrested Friday after the accident on U.S. 24 near Clay Center. She made her $4,000 bond and had a first court appearance scheduled for Nov. 17.

Dunn says 83-year-old Joe Knitter, of Clay Center, died Friday afternoon when he was hit by a car while checking on an injured deer that his wife had hit on the highway.

Joe Knitter died at the scene. His wife was not injured. KCLY reports investigators used a broken mirror from the vehicle to track down the suspect.

The woman told investigators she didn’t stop because she thought she had hit a deer.

Clay Center is about 95 miles northwest of Topeka.

This story was originally published November 10, 2014 at 10:22 AM with the headline "Woman arrested in fatal Kansas hit-and-run of elderly man."