Austin police are searching for the driver who hit and killed a pedestrian on 51st Street near Manor Road in Central East Austin and then took off.

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KVUE's Jim Bergamo reports

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Police have yet to release the name of the victim. They're also still investigating whether the owner of vehicle and the driver who ran away are one in the same.

Maria Cisneros heard a loud crash Shortly after 8:15 Tuesday morning.

"It was a big, big noise, and I thought maybe the ceiling was coming down on me or my daughter," Cisneros said.

She raced to her bedroom window and saw that a gray Suburban had crashed into a utility pole right behind her house and a man lay on the ground nearby.

"I got scared, I did not go and see, I just sat by my window and called an ambulance," Cisneros said.

The 63-year-old man was dead when emergency crews arrived. Police say he was a pedestrian who was on the sidewalk on East 51st near Manor Road when the suburban -- traveling east -- jumped the curb. Investigators say the suburban got tied up with the guy wires that ran from the pole to the ground for support. The wires then spun the suburban around.

"The back of the suburban then hit the pedestrian who was on the sidewalk, and the pedestrian was pronounced deceased at the scene," said Sgt. Richard Stresing with APD.

Police say the driver of the suburban ran away. The force of the collision snapped the utility pole in two, but Austin energy crews say no one lost power. Work crews began the process of replacing the broken utility pole. Cisneros says she knew it was just a matter of time before a tragedy like this happened because, despite neighborhood signs warning people to slow down, she says people continue to travel at a high rate of speed.

"It is dangerous back here because there is nothing to protect our house," Cisneros said. "We could be asleep and somebody is drunk or something and they drive like that, they drive real fast."

Police say the driver of the suburban faces charges of failure to stop and render aid. More charges could be pending.