Video shows driver barrel into family on Capitol Hill, speed off

A mother and her two young children are recovering after a driver hit them and drove off in D.C.’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.

News4 obtained video of the crash and it’s unsettling. It shows an SUV running into the family at 12th and C streets NE last week.

The mother, her son, her daughter and their dog began crossing C Street in the crosswalk when the driver of an SUV — who had appeared to stop — suddenly barreled into them.

“He knocked me out of my shoes, and when I paused for a second, my son was laying on the ground. His left foot was caught under the driver’s tire. And so I started screaming for the driver to back up, and there was a nice couple that had witnessed the whole thing and asked the driver to back up. And his window was down,” the mother said, asking News4 not to use her name.

The driver backed up and pulled to the side. But then he suddenly sped off.

In the video, only seconds later, a D.C. police officer appears. He pauses for a moment and then goes after the driver.

The mother said she was holding her son’s hand when she looked into the driver’s eyes before they crossed. She thought it was OK to keep walking, and then suddenly the driver hit the gas.

“I find it hard to believe that somebody would be driving with murderous intent to run us over, but he slowed through the intersection, and it’s the only reason we proceeded, and I did believe he had seen us crossing,” the mother said.

A man who witnessed the crash immediately tried to help and ran after the driver as he sped off. The mother said he was able to get the tag. A police report says police recovered the SUV, described as a black Nissan Armada.

The mother said her son and daughter are recovering, but emotional scars remain.

“The trauma for my daughter, especially — thinking that she just witnessed her dog get murdered and possibly her brother seriously injured. So we are going to seek counseling for the children,” she said.

There’s some frustration knowing no arrest has been made, but the mom said she has some hope the case will be closed and she’ll get some answers.

Police are looking for the good Samaritan who took photos of the SUV’s license plate, and asked that person and others who witnessed the crash to call the First District detectives’ office.

Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.