A hit-and-run accident early Sunday morning claimed the life a Lawrence man.

Thomas Crum, 60, died after a two-vehicle collision just before 2 a.m. on West Sixth Street, a few blocks east of Kasold Drive.

Crum was driving a 1984 Pontiac east on Sixth Street when his vehicle was struck by what police say was a silver Jeep heading north on Gateway Court. The Jeep fled the scene.

The impact of the collision propelled Crum’s car into the side of the Gateway Automotive building, 534 Gateway Drive. Witnesses told police that the Jeep sustained damage to its front end.

Crum was taken by air ambulance to a Kansas City area hospital, where he later died.

Police are still searching for the driver of the Jeep.

Area residents say the roadway is dangerous, and prone to accidents.

“They need to put a stoplight in,” said Jared Spradling, who lives nearby. “It’s fairly dangerous. There’s a blind corner there as you look out” from Gateway Court to Sixth Street.

The accident drew residents out of their homes, as several ambulances and a helicopter were brought to the scene.

Ed Tajchman, a Web developer, said he was up late working on his computer when he heard the commotion.

Initially, he wasn’t concerned. “I just assumed, ‘Saturday night,’ being Lawrence, a college town,” he said. “When a million police officers showed up, I realized somebody had crashed.”

Police ask anyone with information about the Jeep to call the Lawrence Police Detective Division at 832-7650.