Woman hit, killed by car; driver critical after beaten by bar patrons
By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
A woman who was hit by a car late Saturday night, August 5, while crossing U.S. 31, later succumbed to her injuries, and the driver of the car that hit her remained in critical condition this week with injuries he suffered when he was beaten by a group of angry bar patrons.
According to Atmore Police Department reports, officers responded around 11:50 p.m. Saturday to The Tavern, on U.S. 31 (West Nashville Avenue), after receiving a report that a car had hit a pedestrian.
They arrived to find Hannah Annette Martin 24, of Poarch with “severe injuries” and immediately began administering CPR. Martin was taken to Atmore Community Hospital but efforts to save her were unsuccessful.
Witnesses said Martin had parked on the highway’s north side and was crossing the highway, headed to The Tavern to hear a band that was performing there, when she was struck.
Kenneth Elbert Harrison, 45, of Silverhill, who was driving the 2005 Chevrolet Tahoe that hit her, reportedly got out of his car to see if he could help the stricken woman. When he did, he was assaulted and “severely injured” by an unknown number of people in the bar’s parking lot, according to police reports.
Harrison was flown by medical helicopter to an undisclosed area trauma center, where family members reported Monday (on social media) that he suffered a brain bleed and remained on a ventilator in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.
Martin was a 2017 “Top 10” graduate of Escambia County High School and was taking online classes from Columbia Southern University at the time she was killed. She most recently worked as receptionist for the Poarch Band of Creek Indians’s First Generation Clinic and from 2014-2019 at David’s Catfish House.
Alabama State Troopers are investigating Martin’s death, while Atmore police are investigating the assault on Harrison.