CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The intersection of Leopard Street and McBride is just down from where a man was crossing the highway and ended up getting hit and killed by a vehicle.
Of the four corners on McBride and Leopard Street, only one has a crosswalk painted on the street.
Despite not having crosswalks painted on three of the corners, police said the man who was hit still should have come down to the nearby intersection, which is safer than crossing in the middle of a busy roadway like Leopard Street, where he did end up being hit.
3NEWS met up with CCPD Traffic Lt. Michael Peña later Monday and watched as two more men jaywalked in the same area where the man died earlier Monday morning.
"Both of these guys behind us, they were supposed to go to the intersection not in the middle of the street?" we asked.
"Correct," Peña said. "They should have crossed at the intersection."
MG: "And it is a little safer because you do have some protection."
"Most definitely," Peña said. "And in case you were to be struck -- hopefully we don’t have anybody struck at a street -- but in a case like this, the pedestrian wouldn’t be at fault.”
The fatal accident happened near the former Greyhound RV Park in the 5400 block of Leopard.
The residents in the area said it’s a common occurrence to hear about a pedestrian accident at this intersection.
Corpus Christi RV Resorts Operations Director Brian Sims said this stretch of roadway is dangerous.
"That’s not the first time that’s happened on this street, and it’s a busy roadway there’s a lot of industrial companies around the area," he said. "A lot of trucks driving up and down, so I think just having sidewalks would be a huge improvement."
Artie Tenberg agrees with that.
The man who has been on the streets for about a year now tells 3NEWS he and his dog Pancho Villa make their way up and down this area of Leopard Street several times a day.
”The cops will give you a ticket for jaywalking but they won’t help you across the street," he said. "This area needs to be widened, and we do need a sidewalk. At least clean it up so we can walk through here. This is dangerous. I have my dog here, and I worry about him getting killed. Every day it’s a different person getting hit here.”
Tenberg said he knows of two people who have been hit in as many days.
"A lot of hit-and-runs don’t get reported," he said. 'Homeless people don’t get much attention. If you get hit and don’t get hurt you just go about your business. There’s a lot of accidents that don’t get reported out here.”
3NEWS also asked city of Corpus Christi and TxDOT officials about why this area hasn’t been made safer with sidewalks and clearly marked crosswalks with traffic signal controls.
We will have that very complicated part of the story Tuesday night on 3NEWS at 6.