ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis man died early Sunday morning after his parked car was hit by another car that police believe was street racing.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department identified the victim as William Moore, 55, of the 5300 block of Dr. Martin Luther King Drive.
The crash happened at 3:50 p.m. near the intersection of Dr. Martin Luther King Drive and Goodfellow Boulevard. Police believe a 21-year-old man in a 2006 Acura TSX was speeding down Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, street racing two other cars. As the man tried to pass two women in a 2020 Ford EcoSport, their SUV made a left turn and was struck on the front left side by his car.
Police said the driver of the Acura lost control and struck Moore's car, which was parked on the side of the road. Moore was inside his car when it was hit.
Karen Bryant heard and witnessed the immediate aftermath of the crash.
"The first thing I thought was that the bricks had fallen down off of one of these buildings, that's how loud it was, it was unimaginable," Bryant said.
The impact split the Acura in half. The driver was ejected and suffered a broken arm. The drivers of the two cars he was racing picked the man up and took him to Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
"The back of the car was right across the street. The front of the car was all the way up on Laurel with him sprawled out flat on the street," Bryant said.
Moore was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Bryant said the reason Moore was sitting in a parked car at that time of the morning was to help the business owner across the street. Bryant said someone had tried to break into the nearby barbershop about an hour before the crash. The owner of the barbershop called Moore to secure the shop until he could arrive.
"He was doing a good deed, that's what he was doing," Bryant said. " My husband had just come down to talk to him. He was the last person to talk to him."
Police did not provide any injury information about the women in the Ford SUV.
The accident remains under investigation.