Santa Fe police are looking for the driver of a vehicle who is believed to have struck and killed a pedestrian around 1 a.m. Wednesday on Interstate 25.

Ruben Garcia, a 49-year-old street vendor who sold The New Mexican, died at 8:15 a.m. Wednesday at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center from injuries suffered in a hit-and-run crash.

Police Lt. Dale Lettenberger said there is no indication why Garcia was on the roadway, and there were still no leads Wednesday night on the type of vehicle that struck Garcia in the southbound lanes of I-25 north of the Old Pecos Trail exit.

Garcia was wearing dark clothing when he was killed and a police statement indicates he "was possibly under the influence of alcohol."

Garcia, who has family in California and is originally from Tamaulipas, Mexico, sold The New Mexican seven days a week for the past year and a half on Camino Carlos Rey, according to Jeff Abbott of the newspaper's circulation department.

Coworkers said Garcia was a friendly man who was very quiet.

Santa Fe police initially responded to a 911 call about a body lying in the far-right southbound lane of the interstate, but discovered upon arrival that the suspected hit-and-run occurred outside the city limits.

Lettenberger said his department proceeded with investigating the case after conferring with the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department, which did not have adequate manpower to follow up on the investigation early Wednesday.

Anyone with information on the hit-and-run fatality is asked to call Santa Fe Police Officer Anthony Tapia through the department's nonemergency dispatch number of 428-3710.

Contact Geoff Grammer at 986-3076 or ggrammer@sfnewmexican.com.