Hit-And-Run Driver Came Back, Nearly Ran Over Victim's Father In Pilsen, Victim Says
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A car crash in Pilsen was caught on camera, but it is what one driver is accused of doing after he left the scene that has police looking for him.
As CBS 2's Jermont Terry reported, the driver came back – and is now accused of another crime.
The intersection of 18th Street and Ashland Avenue is always busy – and such was the case when the crash went down on Sunday morning. But the man whose sport-utility vehicle was hit did not expect the man who slammed into him to take off – only to come back because he left something key behind.
Surveillance cameras captured the moment the vehicles crashed. They also show the driver of a red Honda Accord reversing quickly and leaving the wreck.
"The car hit me. I was like, augh – I was shook," said Christopher Reyes.
Reyes became trapped in his black SUV briefly.
"I couldn't get out because the airbags were so big in the car, so I had to wait until the airbags were just deflated," he said.
And before he could jump out, the man who blew the red light at the intersection was long gone.
"I was like, this guy really doesn't care about anybody, you know?" Reyes said. "I was just thinking, how could he do that somebody and leave?"
After he gets out of the SUV, Reyes is seen picking up something that was left behind in the street. That something was the other driver's license plate, which had been left lying there after that driver had taken off.
"How can you just leave your license plate?" Reyes said. "Now we know where to find you."
Police responded along with Reyes' family.
"My brother and my dad came to the scene," Reyes said.
While police surveyed the damage, the driver returned – they thought in hopes of getting the license plate.
"My dad told me the guy circled back after 10 minutes, came back to this parking lot, was just sitting observing the damages to my car," Reyes said.
And when Reyes' father confronted the other driver in the alley, they said things escalated.
"He made everything even worse now because he tried hitting my father in the alley," Reyes said.
The cameras did not catch it, but Reyes believes the man intentionally tried running his father over. Now, the driver wanted in the hit-and-run could be in a lot more trouble if found.
"I think he should have just stopped and talked to me and worked things out." Reyes said.
Despite having his license plate, police had not arrested the driver Monday night. Reyes' father moved out of the way of the car in the nick of time.