A hit-and-run driver struck a woman and her 5-year-old son in Fairfax County last week, killing the mother and injuring the boy. The search for the driver is ongoing.
Erica Tibbs; her partner, Christian Saidi; and their son, Hezekiah, had just stepped off a bus after dinner at McDonald’s Jan. 29.
Saidi crossed Richmond Highway near Buckman Road first, though not in a crosswalk. He said the roadway was clear when Tibbs and Hezekiah began to follow, but an SUV suddenly raced toward them and hit them.
“The car just come out of nowhere,” Saidi said.
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Saidi said he ran to his son and partner, performing CPR on Tibbs and then checking on Hezekiah as a good Samaritan stopped traffic.
Saidi rode in the ambulance with his son. When they got to the hospital, he learned Tibbs had died. She was 33.
The driver continued north on Richmond Highway and then ditched the SUV, police said.
Hezekiah’s head wounds are healing. News4 video shows scrapes on the little boy’s face and stiches on his forehead.
Saidi and his son are staying at a hotel, as Saidi doesn’t want to return to the Richmond Highway area for fear of flashbacks.
“I’m dreaming or is it a movie?” he said. “But people say it’s not a movie. It’s real life.”
Saidi said Tibbs was a wonderful mother, full of kindness.
“She’s a good mother. Everybody love her,” he said. “She doesn’t have any problem with anybody. She take care of me, of everybody.”
Her aunt said Tibbs grew up in Alexandria and was loved, valued and respected in the community. She was the oldest of five siblings.
Richmond Highway is the site of repeated pedestrian crashes. Transportation officials lowered the speed limit from 45 mph to 35 mph in spring 2023 to try to make it safer for drivers, cyclists, pedestrians and transit users.
Fairfax County police said the driver was in a 2007 Chevrolet Suburban.
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with potentially relevant information is asked to contact police, including by submitting a tip anonymously.
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