Driver Hits Stroller Being Pushed By Miami Mom
MIAMI (CBS4) - Miami police are hunting a hit and run driver who ran into a toddler in a stroller Sunday afternoon. The two year-old was was out with his mother and older brother in an Allapattah shopping district, when a black Ford jumped the curb, ran up on the sidewalk and hit the stroller, sending it and the boy flying 15 feet across a parking lot.
A security camera from a nearby business captured the collision. It shows the west-bound car cross two lanes of on-coming traffic before careening into the boy in his stroller, as his mother and older brother jump back to avoid being hit.
"Why wouldn't he stop? It was a poor little baby!" declared Mohammed Massalkhi, who was working steps away at a business in the strip shopping center in the 1800 block of Northwest 20th Street.
"I heard the lady screaming and I came straight to her," Massalkhi said. "I saw the black car keep going. I tried comforting her."
Remarkably, the toddler was not seriously injured. "He had a big bump on his head and was scratched from the knees up," Massalkhi said.
Police are not naming the victim because his father is a Miami police officer.
The hit and run driver could face felony charges if caught.
"This is somebody that's striking another human being and not even pausing, not even looking back, fleeing the scene, accelerating," said William Moreno, a police department spokesman. "To have an accident is just a traffic infraction, but when you make the decision to leave the scene, to not stop and render aid, that's a serious crime."
Police describe the hit and run vehicle as a black, four-door Ford Crown Victoria. It should have damage to the front driver's side near the headlights.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crimestoppers at 305-471-TIPS(8477).
