Seattle police last week were investigating whether two hit-and-run incidents in which the drivers appeared to target random pedestrians on the same night in November were connected, the New York Times reported.
In a video statement released on December 12, Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz described the two hit-and-runs as “callous crimes” that had him “extremely concerned.”
Seattle police released to the public a cell phone video shot from inside one of the vehicles in which a passenger is heard repeatedly urging the driver to hit a person walking in a bus lane. The vehicle then plows into the pedestrian, sending the victim flying onto the hood.
In the second incident, cell phone footage and surveillance video show a vehicle hitting a female pedestrian and then driving away. Several bystanders stopped to assist the woman, including a passing driver who helped her into the vehicle and drove her away, the police said.
Seattle Police Department spokesman Shawn Weismiller declined to say how the police obtained the cell phone footage from inside the vehicle.
The two incidents both occurred on Aurora Avenue in the early hours of November 26.
Thus far, the Seattle Police have not determined that the same individuals were responsible for both hit-and-runs.
Detectives have combed through hospital admissions and 911 call records and have also canvassed the area around the two hit-and-runs but have so far not been able to identify or find the victims.
According to Officer Weismiller, it does not appear as if the victims were known by the assailants. Weismiller said the police decided to make the video footage public in hopes that someone might come forward with additional information.
So far, the victims have not come forward to police. However, based on the speed at which the vehicles were traveling at the times of the hit-and-runs, the Seattle police believe that the victims would have been injured, “if not seriously injured,” Weismiller said.
