A Northeast D.C. man crossing a street early New Year's Day was hit and killed by a car whose driver did not stop.
Ian Jerome Butts, 36, died early Friday after he was hit in a crosswalk before 4:10 a.m., police said. The pedestrian's body was found then on the 3500 block of 3500 block of Minnesota Avenue SE.
Butts was a devoted husband and father to four young children, his wife, Tjamanquie Moody, said.
"Ian was a good guy. Ian was a family guy," she said through tears.
Moody last spoke to her husband about an hour after midnight. Two hours later, at 3 a.m., Butts called his father.
"He told me he loved me -- Happy New Year," Henry Lockamy said. "I told him I love him too and I hope this new year be better for him."
About 5 a.m., police knocked on Butts' father's door.
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"The officer came in, and he asked for my wife to come down, and he said it was a car accident," Lockamy said.
According to the preliminary investigation, Butts was hit while in the crosswalk of Minnesota Avenue at the intersection with C Street SE. Police believe the car that hit him was headed southwest on Minnesota Avenue. The driver fled the scene.
"[If] whoever it was would just got out and made a phone call, maybe that would have saved him," Butts' father said.
Police believe the suspect's vehicle may be a blue or black Chevrolet Equinox, possibly a 2005, 2006 or 2007 model. The vehicle likely has damage to the front end and windshield, police said.
Surveillance cameras mounted on an apartment building nearby captured the impact. The footage shows Butts walking in the crosswalk and then being struck.
"It was disturbing," said Oswald Durant, resident manager of the building.
The victim's wife begged the driver to come forward.
"Just let us know what happened. Tell us," she said. "If it was an accident, we're gonna forgive, I just need to know what happened."
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 202-727-9099, or text an anonymous tip to 50411.
