Minnesota State Patrol Looking For Hit And Run Driver Who Hit Man on I-94 (2 Update)

Tuesday night, a man was hit and killed on I-94 as he was putting gas in his stalled car. The pedestrian was near the ramp leading from westbound Interstate 94 to Riverside Avenue. The vehicle that hit him drove away.

The State Patrol has yet to release information about the vehicle. Anyone with information should contact the Minnesota State Patrol at 651-582-1511.

Update: The car has been found and identified as a light gold 2009 Mercedes Benz ML350.

Update 2: The vehicle has been identified as being owned by former Minnesota Viking player Joe Senser.

The person who was killed has also been identified and like all deaths of this type has his own story which the Minneapolis Tribune pointed out:

Phanthavong had been "an inspired chef and a very hard worker" at True Thai Restaurant, a couple of blocks south of where he was hit, according to the restaurant’s blog posting noting the hit-and-run. He was not working that evening.

"Because he died so close to our restaurant, I know that his spirit will be watching over us just as he watched over our kitchen these last nine years," co-owner Anna Prasomphol Fieser wrote.

Fieser said she and Phanthavong spoke on the phone about 9:15 p.m. and arranged for him to come to the restaurant for gas money.

However, Fieser added, Phanthavong didn’t show up. She assumes he found another way to pay for the gas he was putting in his car at the time he was hit.

"The $20, I still have it," Fieser said on Wednesday afternoon.

Phanthavong "lived a very difficult life," she added. "He was separated from his parents while growing up in Laos during the years of terrible unrest that followed the Vietnam War" and was later reunited with them in the United States.

In late July, he helped prepare food for rock star Bono and the band U2, in town for a concert at TCF Bank Stadium.

Sorrow goes out to his family and friends.