Crime wave concerns rise in Seattle neighborhood after broad daylight hit-and-run

SEATTLE (KOMO) — Recent footage from a Ring camera, of a man being hit by a car in broad daylight, has residents in that Seattle neighborhood concerned that this kind of thing could happen more often.

The video shows an SUV speeding down a dead-end street on a sunny midday in April. A man is seen walking up the street, then shows him being hit by the vehicle, rolling on the hood before he pops up and the car speeds away.

One man runs out of a home and yells “You alright?!” The victim yells back “Yeah!” “You know who they are?” “No clue!”

The video ends shortly after. The owner of the video said a police report was filed, but it’s unclear at this time if anything ever came out of the investigation.

The man was struck in front of Jeanne Wiek’s home, who said a man working at her home tried to follow the SUV to get the license plate. He was unsuccessful in his goal while she checked on the victim.

He didn’t hit his head luckily, but he was scratched up and it was horrifying,” Wiek recalled. “They were kids! I don’t know if they were teenagers, but they were kids and they were laughing as they left, which was disturbing.

Wiek believes that had the moment been only slightly different, it could have been her, or her daughter or granddaughter, that was hit instead.

A few weeks later and streets over, Lauren Schmidt reported another terrifying incident to hit the neighborhood.

"Our teenage daughter was walking home the other, late afternoon. A group of teenage boys that matched that description [of the hit-and-run perpetrators] were trailing her in a car, harassing her," Schmidt recalled.

They all had bandanas over their face and their hoodies up. They were asking her a bunch of questions; she told them her to leave her alone. They said if she didn't comply with their questions they were going to get out of the car and make her comply.

When asked what she thinks they meant by their comments, Schmidt says she does not want to think about it: "It's too terrifying to think about."

KOMO was told that information is being complied on all these recent issues and that the police have been made aware. Schmidt believes at some point in the future there may have to be a community meeting.

Wiek told Rivera, “I'm 83 years old and the world was not like this when I was your age. It's scary."

"I do think, the earlier there's intervention with young people, there's less probability of things escalating," Schmidt added. "That's where I would like to see some response now, before things escalate."