Dallas police are investigating two separate hit-and-run incidents that seriously injured children last month and are asking for the public’s help in identifying one of the drivers.
The first incident occurred in the 3800 block of Hammerly Drive, in Council Member Omar Narvaez’s District 6.
Investigators said a 10-year-old boy was riding his moped at around 4:40 p.m. on October 18 when he was struck by a vehicle, sustaining serious injuries, according to Fox 4 KDFW. A photo taken of the suspect’s vehicle as it took off southbound suggests that it was a white or light-colored SUV.
Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact the Dallas Police Department’s Vehicle Crimes Unit directly at 214-671-0020.
Less than two weeks later, another hit-and-run incident in the 5100 block of Clover Haven Street left a 13-year-old boy seriously injured. Witnesses reported that on October 30, the boy was riding a go-kart at about 3:40 p.m. when a GMC vehicle coming out of an alleyway struck him. Instead of rendering aid, the driver reversed course and fled the scene.
This occurred in Council Member Adam Bazaldua’s District 7.
On Tuesday, DPD posted an image of a dark-colored GMC vehicle that was believed to have been involved in the incident. However, in a Wednesday news release, the department said investigators had determined the vehicle was not involved in the crash.
“Detectives have identified the involved driver, no charges have been filed in the case, and the investigation is ongoing,” police said.
Several hit-and-run incidents have been reported in North Texas lately. The region showed mixed results in the latest report on road safety published by the North Central Texas Council of Governments in September, with automobile crash rates and fatalities spiking in some North Texas counties in 2022.
While police in Fort Worth and Denton have faced recent pedestrian-related incidents, a hit-and-run incident in South Dallas involved a woman who was actually allegedly pushed from a vehicle, run over, and then left on the road to die, as previously covered in The Dallas Express.
At the same time, the DPD is critically short-staffed, with Chief Eddie Garcia recently explaining that he has only a dozen officers assigned to auto theft, which is currently the most rampant crime citywide. As of November 1, auto theft this year had seen an over 40% uptick year over year, with 15,690 incidents logged in the city’s crime analytics dashboard.
Downtown Dallas remains a hotbed for auto theft, with a study comparing Dallas’ city center to Fort Worth’s downtown area, which is reportedly patrolled by a dedicated police unit working alongside private security guards, finding that over the course of one month, 91 motor vehicle thefts occurred in the former compared to just two in the latter.
Meanwhile, DPD is running operations with just under 3,200 officers despite a previous analysis stating that Dallas needs about three officers for every 1,000 residents, putting an ideal staffing level at roughly 4,000.