PHOENIX - A videotape has helped police track down a woman involved in a hit and run in Phoenix.
She vanished after a crash that left a man hospitalized for months. Police say that driver turned herself in Wednesday morning after seeing media covereage of the accident Tuesday night.
The woman was interviewd and processed but was released pending a follow-up investigation. Her name has not been released because she has not been formally charged with a crime.
The victim was hit while walking across the street at 29th Avenue and Glendale. He spent two weeks in the Intensive Care Unit and rescue workers did not think he would even survive.
He is only 30 years old and his mother says he spends much of his time crying but trying to stay positive.
Investigators say there is surveillance pictures of the woman they believe ran over Leland McCabe in the middle of the road before driving away.
3TV spoke to Leland's mom, Marilyn Tsinajinnie, over the phone. She says, “I don't know how somebody could just run over a person and just leave."
Sgt. Trent Crump, of the Phoenix Police Department, explains, “A gentleman was just hit and is critical and is lying in the roadway."
Instead of stopping, police say the woman responsible drives to a nearby Circle K.
Sgt. Crump says, “This female goes inside in a panic, she parks in a panic, leaving the car and her door open, running."
Surveillance footage shows her as she steps inside the store and police say she tells the clerk she has just hit someone.
Sgt. Crump says, “She then proceeds outside to what you think would be to go to the scene of the accident but what we end up seeing in this video is that she literally stands out and watches toward the scene as many people run through the parking lot and go to the scene of this horrific accident."
Just around the corner the victim has been seriously injured in his mid-section. His mother tells 3TV, “When he actually saw his wounds he was just saying he wish he didn't live. He always wanted kids but he will never be able to have kids."
