Two Shreveport Hit-and-Runs in Three Days, and the Coverage That Protects Families

Published October 14, 2026, from Shreveport news reports of October 11 and 12. Both police investigations were open as of October 12.

When a driver hits someone and leaves, or turns out to carry no insurance, the injured family’s own uninsured motorist coverage is often the only insurance left to pay. Two Shreveport crashes in three days show both problems.

On Saturday night, October 10, 2026, a driver struck and killed a pedestrian on North Market Street at Nelson Street in Shreveport and drove away without stopping, according to KSLA and the Shreveport-Bossier Journal.

Early on Monday, October 12, 2026, a driver struck a mother and her two young children as they crossed Hearne Avenue near Morningside Drive in Shreveport and left the scene. A 10-year-old girl suffered life-threatening injuries. Shreveport police arrested the driver on hit-and-run charges and said his license was suspended and his car was uninsured, as reported by KTBS and KSLA.

Disclaimer: Trey Morris Injury Lawyers comments here only on the personal injury and insurance side of these crashes. The firm does not practice criminal law. Anyone arrested or charged in connection with these crashes is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

Two crashes, two insurance problems

The two crashes leave the families in different places, and the difference decides where payment can come from.

In the Hearne Avenue crash, police found the driver, but his car had no insurance. The family can pursue the driver personally, yet a driver with no policy often has little to collect, which is why an uninsured driver’s crash usually turns into a claim on the injured person’s own insurance.

In the North Market Street crash, police were still looking for the driver as of October 12. Until a driver is found, there is no liability policy to claim against at all.

In both situations, the coverage most likely to pay is uninsured motorist coverage, usually called UM, on an auto policy the family bought before the crash.

What Louisiana requires of UM coverage

Louisiana requires every auto liability policy issued in the state to include UM coverage, at limits no lower than the policy’s bodily injury liability limits, for the people the policy insures (La. R.S. 22:1295(1)(a)(i)). The coverage pays for bodily injury and for death caused by an uninsured or underinsured driver.

A policyholder can turn UM down, choose lower limits or choose a cheaper economic-only version, but only by signing the form the state insurance commissioner prescribes (La. R.S. 22:1295(1)(a)(ii)). Economic-only UM leaves out noneconomic loss, which the statute defines to include pain, suffering, inconvenience and mental anguish.

Who counts as an insured is set by each policy’s definitions, and that language decides whether a family member hit while walking, like the people in both Shreveport crashes, is covered by a car policy at home. Make sure to get guidance on this point when speaking with an attorney.

When the other car never touched the injured person or the vehicle they were in, often called a phantom driver case, UM coverage includes the injury only if an independent and disinterested witness proves that another driver, including one whose identity is unknown, caused it (La. R.S. 22:1295(1)(f)). In both Shreveport crashes the vehicle struck the people it injured, and the driver in the North Market Street crash has not been identified. How a policy treats a driver who made contact and was never found depends on its definition of an uninsured vehicle. Make sure to get guidance on this point when speaking with an attorney.

The criminal case and the injury claim run separately

Hit-and-run driving is a crime in Louisiana. A driver involved in a crash commits it by intentionally failing to stop at the scene, give his identity and render reasonable aid (La. R.S. 14:100). Prosecutors decide which of Louisiana’s criminal laws for crashes that injure people to charge.

The family’s claim for medical bills, lost income and pain is a separate civil case. The state brings the criminal case; the injured person or the family brings the civil one, and it does not depend on a conviction. The two sides also call for different lawyers: an injury lawyer represents the family, and a criminal lawyer defends the accused driver.

Because hit-and-run is a crime, a family who loses someone also has help outside the insurance system. When a family member is killed by a drunk driver, a hit-and-run driver, a driver fleeing police or another violent crime in Caddo Parish, Louisiana’s Crime Victims Reparations program can help with funeral expenses and lost support, and the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office reviews those applications locally at (318) 681-0870. Ordinary crashes without one of those crimes are not covered.

Steps that protect a hit-and-run claim

A UM claim is only as strong as the proof that another driver caused the crash. These steps keep that proof from slipping away.

• Get the crash report. The Shreveport Police Department lists its crash report fee at $20 per report, with any witness or driver statements included. Allow about 3 to 10 business days after the crash, then buy the report online at buycrash.lexisnexisrisk.com or in person at the SPD Information Services Bureau, 1234 Texas Avenue, weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Questions: (318) 673-7084.
• Write down the people who saw it. Names and phone numbers of anyone who witnessed the crash matter even more when the driver is gone, because a witness may be the only proof of how it happened.
• Find the video before it disappears. Shreveport’s Real Time Crime Center is staffed around the clock, but most of the video it can reach stays on the cameras’ owners’ systems. Businesses that share feeds with the center decide how long their video is kept, and the center keeps video only when it records it itself. The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development runs a traffic management center for the Shreveport area whose operators watch its highway traffic cameras, but DOTD says those camera feeds are live only and are never recorded, so they will not hold video of a crash. The useful footage usually sits on doorbells and business cameras facing the street.
• Report the claim to the family’s own insurer. The UM claim is made against the family’s own policy. That insurer will often ask for a recorded statement, and what is said in it can be used to value or dispute the claim.
• Avoid the usual mistakes. Underestimating injuries, admitting fault and signing a quick release from an insurer are among the mistakes people make after a crash.

Helping police find the North Market Street driver

Shreveport police ask anyone who was in the area that night, or who knows of a vehicle with recent damage, to call 318-673-7300 or Shreveport-Caddo Crime Stoppers at 318-673-7373, as reported by KSLA and the Shreveport-Bossier Journal.

Finding the driver matters to the family as well as to police. A driver who is identified may carry liability insurance, which adds a second source of payment to the family’s UM coverage.

The stretch of road is a known problem. When the Northwest Louisiana Council of Governments scored roads across Caddo, Bossier, DeSoto and Webster parishes for pedestrian crashes from 2018 through 2022, all eleven of the highest-scoring stretches were in Shreveport. North Market Street between Nelson Street and Havens Road ranked first, and the list includes Line Avenue between East 70th and East 76th streets and Interstate 20 between Jewella Avenue and Samuel Street. In 2024, Caddo Parish recorded 8 pedestrians killed, according to the Louisiana Traffic Records Summary Report. The firm’s page on Shreveport pedestrian crashes covers the local roads and agencies in more detail.

Fault when the injured person was on foot

Insurers in pedestrian claims often argue that the person on foot shared the blame, so Louisiana’s pedestrian right-of-way rules matter to the claim. Shared blame changes the amount: for accidents on or after January 1, 2026, a person found 51% or more at fault recovers nothing, and anyone less than 51% at fault has damages reduced by their share (La. C.C. art. 2323).

When a hit-and-run takes a life

When a crash kills someone, close family members can bring a wrongful death claim for their own loss, and the same family can bring a survival claim for what the person who died suffered before death. UM coverage reaches death as well as injury (La. R.S. 22:1295(1)(a)(i)), which makes it a central question in whether insurance covers a wrongful death. The claim is built from records such as the crash report and the coroner’s findings.

Filing deadlines

Louisiana gives an injured person two years from the day of the injury to file suit (La. C.C. art. 3493.1).

A wrongful death or survival claim must be filed within one year from the death or two years from the day of the injury, whichever is longer (La. C.C. arts. 2315.1, 2315.2).

Being under 18 does not pause the two-year deadline for most Louisiana injury claims. A parent or tutor has to file on the child’s behalf within two years (La. C.C. art. 3468).

Checking UM coverage before a crash

The Hearne Avenue crash shows why UM coverage matters: the driver police arrested had no insurance. A family’s protection against a driver like that is the UM coverage on its own policy, and it has to be in place before the crash.

The policy’s declarations page lists UM coverage and its limits. A family that finds no UM, a lower limit than its liability coverage or an economic-only selection can ask the insurer for the signed selection form, because the law allows those choices only on that form. The UM limits on the family’s policies also shape how a UM claim is negotiated.

In an uninsured motorist claim after a hit-and-run, Trey Morris Injury Lawyers asks every insurer in the household for its policy and the signed UM selection form, because the law requires UM coverage at the policy’s bodily injury limits unless a named insured signed that form (La. R.S. 22:1295(1)(a)). The firm’s preservation letters go to the owners of homes and businesses whose cameras face the road, asking them to keep any video showing the vehicle, its plate or its direction of travel. The firm’s page on hit-and-run claims covers the rest of the process.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does uninsured motorist coverage pay if the hit-and-run driver is never found?

It can. When the car never touched the injured person or their vehicle, Louisiana UM coverage includes the injury if an independent and disinterested witness proves that another driver, including one whose identity is unknown, caused it (La. R.S. 22:1295(1)(f)). When the car did make contact and the driver was never identified, coverage depends on how the policy defines an uninsured vehicle. Make sure to get guidance on this point when speaking with an attorney.

Is a pedestrian covered by uninsured motorist coverage?

It depends on the policy. Louisiana requires UM coverage for the people an auto policy insures (La. R.S. 22:1295(1)(a)(i)), and the policy's own definition of an insured decides whether a family member hit while walking is covered. Make sure to get guidance on this point when speaking with an attorney.

How long does a family have to file after a hit-and-run in Louisiana?

An injured person has two years from the day of the injury to file suit (La. C.C. art. 3493.1). A wrongful death or survival claim must be filed within one year from the death or two years from the day of the injury, whichever is longer (La. C.C. arts. 2315.1, 2315.2). Being under 18 does not pause the deadline; a parent or tutor has to file on the child's behalf (La. C.C. art. 3468).

Does the injury claim depend on the criminal case?

No. The state prosecutes the crime, and the injury claim belongs to the injured person or the family. The claim does not depend on a conviction.