NT Police charge man, 32, in relation to alleged Alice Springs hit and run

A man is due to face court after he was charged with the alleged hit and run death of a 20-year-old in the Red Centre.

On Sunday NT Police Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst confirmed that a 32-year-old man was being questioned while his car had been seized from a property outside Alice Springs following a fatal pedestrian strike in the early hours of Sunday morning. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

UPDATE TUES 12PM: A 32-year-old man has been charged in relation to the alleged hit and run death of a 20-year-old man in Alice Springs.

An NT Police spokesman said the man was charged with hit and run causing death and was due to appear in the Alice Springs Local Court on Tuesday.

The spokesman said the pedestrian’s death was being treated as a death in custody.

He said the circumstances surrounding the man’s death were still being investigated on behalf of the NT Coroner.

UPDATE SUN 2PM: The alleged hit and run death of a 20-year-old man in Alice Springs is being investigated as a death in custody.

On Sunday NT Police Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst confirmed that a 32-year-old man was being questioned while his car had been seized from a property outside Alice Springs following a fatal pedestrian strike in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Mr Wurst said police were alerted to reports of an unresponsive 20-year-old laying on the road near the Larapinta Drive, Aldridge St intersection about 4.15am on March 24.

He was taken to Alice Springs Hospital with serious injuries, where he was later declared deceased.

Mr Wurst alleged the young man was hit by a car sometime between 2.50am and 4.15am, with the driver failing to alert triple-0 before fleeing the scene.

Just after 1pm a vehicle was seized and a 32-year-old was taken into custody, with charges expected to be laid.

Mr Wurst said the car did not appear to be stolen nor were there clear links between the two men, however added its was still an “early stage of the investigation”.

However, Mr Wurst said once police started investigating “the background in relation to the movements of the person” they realised the 20-year-old had interacted with police just 75 minutes earlier.

Mr Wurst said police were called to a “disturbance” at Todd St in Alice Springs just before 3am and engaged with the 20-year-old alongside a “number of other people”.

He said no charges were laid in relation to the disturbance, and the young man was taken home.

Mr Wurst did not confirm if the 20-year-old was left with relatives or friends, and soon after he left the house before being hit by the car.

“We've got a tragedy here. We’ve got a young person who has lost his life, family are grieving,” he said.

“Police will continue to investigate this matter both from a criminal and coronial context.”

According to the Australian Institute of Criminology a police inquest is triggered by deaths institutional setting, such as in a station or cop car, incidents where officers had close contact with the deceased, like an arrest, or during a pursuit or siege, but “borderline cases” are also included where it is not straightforward whether it should be escalated by the coroner.

Ultimately the decision to proceed this to a death in custody inquest will be a matter for the NT Coroner Elisabeth Armitage.

Mr Wurst appealed for anyone with dash cam footage from around Larapinta Dr and Aldridge St between 4am to 5am to come forward and provide those videos to police.

“That footage will be very important for us to establish any other movements of the deceased person prior to him being struck,” he said.

INITIAL SUN 8.30AM: A serious crash has forced the closure of Larapinta Road from Memorial Drive and Lovegrove Drive in Alice Springs.

Police have confirmed there was a “deceased person” at the scene, but have provided no additional details.

The NT News understands the body of a man was identified at about 4am, and Alice Springs police originally said there were no major incidents due to wet weather overnight.

It’s believed the man was pronounced dead in Alice Springs hospital this morning.

Secure NT issued a statement just before 8am Sunday advising of the road’s closure and that Northern Territory police were at the scene following a “serious crash”.

It said the road would be closed for the remainder of the day.

Social media crime-alert site Action for Alice 2020 posted about 7am advising motorists to avoid the area due to an apparent hit-and-run on Larapinta Road.

It said a source had advised a person had been struck and that the road was blocked from the Larapinta and Memorial Drive intersections to the Araluen roundabout.

The site is across the road from Araluen Park, which had a large number of people present on Saturday night.

MORE TO COME.