Another Pointless Thing To Busy My Mind With

A few weeks ago a friend who lives in my neighborhood told me about a terrible incident wherein, as she was coming home after work in the wee hours of the morning, she saw the police on the scene of what turned out to be a hit-and-run that killed a pedestrian. This happened right on a corner near my work, and near several restaurants that we frequently visit. My friend said there was a sheet covering the body and that the victim's shoes were several feet away, indicating that they had been literally knocked out of their shoes by the impact of the accident.

A short while later I read a little blurb in the New Yorker about a similar case, long unsolved, where the same thing had happened - a hit and run victim had been knocked out of their shoes.
I've been thinking about this at random moments ever since. It's morbid, I know, but that's where my curiosity takes me sometimes. Turns out other people have been similarly curious, and there are lots of reports on this kind of thing online (including one from my internet acquaintance at the CTA Tattler). It happens frequently in particular types of blunt force trauma.