NBC10’s Deanna Durante is following new developments in a pair of hit-and-run investigations that remain unsolved. Philadelphia Police say they need more leads to find the people responsible for killing one child and critically injuring another.
It isn't likely that the owner of a sport utility vehicle, being investigated as the vehicle that drove off after striking and killing a 4-year-old boy, will turn herself in Wednesday.
Michael Diamondstein, the attorney for the unidentified SUV owner, told NBC10 that she had no plans to turn herself in as police continued to process her SUV.
Police told NBC10 they recovered the black Ford Edge that likely struck and killed Abdul Wilson around 9 p.m. Tuesday in an underground parking garage at Love Park after the owner of the SUV contacted police.
Diamondstein said his client was behind the wheel.
"I was approached by the driver of the car," Diamondstein said. "She was very upset about what happened. She contacted us and we contacted police. We let them know the location of the car and provided them with the keys to the car as well."
Accident investigators weren't ready yet to talk to the woman about Monday night's crash near 57th Street and Florence Avenue. Philadelphia Police Accident Investigation Division Capt. John Wilczynsk confirmed that they continued to process the vehicle Wednesday and didn't expect the woman to surrender to police during that day.
Surveillance video showed Abdul walking between two cars when he was hit by a Ford Edge and knocked 15-feet into the road. The vehicle then drove over the boy as he lay helpless in the street.
"It just broke my heart," said Raysa Cespezes, a witness. "Since he was so little it was very hard to watch."
The driver, who police said was a woman, then fled south on 57th Street.
Abdul later died at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
The boy's mother came to the scene minutes after the accident.
"She was just crying for the baby," Cespezes said. "It was horrible. Something I would never want anybody to go through."
A $20,000 reward was offered for anyone with information leading to the arrest and conviction of the driver.
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The incident occurred less than an hour before another hit-and-run in Philadelphia. In that crash a mother and her 2-year-old son were struck in the Kensington section of the city. the child remained in critical condition Wednesday.
