Police Describe Vehicles Sought In Two Separate Philadelphia Hit-Runs
By Jan Carabeo, Tim Jimenez, and John McDevitt
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- A four-year-old boy was killed and a mother and young child critically hurt after two separate hit-and-run incidents yesterday evening in Philadelphia.
Now, the focus is on the search for the drivers, and police were providing descriptions of the vehicles involved.
Police say a black SUV struck the child around 6:30 p.m. The vehicle fled from the scene.
The boy was taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where he was pronounced dead.
The second hit-and-run happened just half an hour later, in the Kensington section of the city.
Just after 7 p.m., police say, a 19-year-old mother and her two-year-old son were struck by a newer model, four-door, white sedan while crossing in the 2700 block of Mascher Street.
The woman and the child were taken to the hospital. Both were listed in critical condition.
Philadelphia Police chief inspector Scott Small says both hit-and-runs are active investigations, adding, "We're pretty confident that we will be able to identify and apprehend both of these drivers."
Later Tuesday morning, Capt. John Wilczynski, commanding officer of the police department's accident investigation division, says the first incident involved a specially customized Ford Edge. "Now, what is unique about the vehicle, it has an all-chrome front," Wilczynski said. "And it's got a one inch of chrome going from the front to the back, which means it's some kind of custom-made vehicle. Also in the front of the vehicle, where there will normally be a indentation for a license plate, there is nothing. We have witnesses (who say) a black female was operating that vehicle and went north on 57th Street."
Wilczynski says the second incident, in Kensington, happened when the driver of a white Acura or Infiniti hit a 19-year-old woman and her two-year-old son.
Rewards are being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of both drivers: $20,000 in the Southwest Philadelphia fatality, and $10,000 for the crime in Kensington.
