Washington Park Illinois Sept. 8 2008
Security video at a Metro East gas station catches a brutal hit and run last week, and now police say they know who's responsible.
Washington Park Police say it was the video that helped crack the case wide open.
"I want to thank the community, the news and the gas station for having an outstanding surveillance system," said Washington Park Detective Kim McAfee.
"Sometimes they get something, sometimes they don't," said Mobil Gas Station Owner Adel Alyadumi.
But this time Alyadumi's surveillance video helped police tremendously, leading them to one of the suspects.
"The passenger came in around 11:45 today and turned herself in and gave us the name of the driver," said Detective McAfee. "She stated she turned herself in because she saw herself on the news and friends were calling."
The video she saw on the news showed the driver of a gray van running over a man on a bike. A close look at the video in slow motion showed 22-year-old Anthony Jackson's body underneath the van.
Investigators say the driver then dragged him about 20 ft. before taking off down Kingshighway.
Jackson suffered a broken rib and a lot of scars.
"I'm sore all over my body, I can barely move. If I was someone else and saw it I'd think they'd be dead," Jackson said.
The Mobil gas station where the hit and run happened has 16 cameras total, some in the back and one for every pump.
It was video from pump seven that convinced the female passenger in the van that night to contact police.
"Yeah that helped out a whole lot," said Detective McAfee. "That was the key."
Investigators say the 29-year-old admitted she and the driver knew they had hit someone, but didn't stop because they were afraid.
Police recovered the van Monday September 8, 2008, a week from when the incident happened, and are now looking for 31-year-old Camron Schooler of East St. Louis.
Alyadumi says he's glad the video helped police and is now thinking about upgrading his surveillance video so that it can zoom in on faces and license plates.
"Yeah because its too much fun and you feel your doing something good, even if it costs us you're doing something good to help a lot of good people and keep bad people out of this area."
Investigators believe it was an accident, but say the driver is still likely to be charged with leaving the scene of an accident, which is a felony.
