Hit and run caught on home security footage in South Bend

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - In exclusive video only on ABC57, a truck sideswipes a parked truck and then leaves the scene and it was all caught on camera.

A truck is seen in the video turning left off of Olive Street, sliding and hitting another truck before backing up and leaving the scene.

“I’m not sure if he was trying to avoid hitting another car or if he was turning but he slid into my husband’s truck which in turn pushed mine half a car length up,” Helen Riffle said.

The Riffles didn’t even know what happened until something looked a little off.

“He came home and about 5, 10 minutes after he got home, he looked out the window and seen the vehicles had moved so we went to check the security cameras,” she said.

The vehicle who did it was nowhere to be seen.

“Yeah he just took off,” she said.

And their cars?

“He needs to replace the back bumper because it’s basically totaled on the backside,” she said.

The act was caught on two of their security cameras. They filed a police report and are giving the video to police Thursday afternoon.

“Hoping somebody knows who did it or the person who did it comes forward and says I’m sorry,” she said.

Jerry Amstutz, a driving instructor with Fricks Driving School tells ABC57 it’s just a reminder to everyone that the roads are slick and that they need to be careful.

“If it’s been snowing just assume that you’re going to run into areas that are bad. You have to drive different,” Amstutz said.

Amstutz said you need to have slow gentle actions, meaning start slower, stop way ahead of time and go slow during turns so that you won’t slide.

If you do slide, he says ABS will help with skidding, but older cars don’t have that system in place so in that case, if you are sliding, just tap your breaks and it will help.

He said it’s common to see people not being careful on snowy roads

“Slow, gentle actions, you have to do that, or you can get in trouble,” he said.

“Slow down! You know it’s icy, it’s winter. Slow down and take your time,” Riffle said. “It could have been a kid out there playing in the snow, you never know.”

Riffle said she is glad they have security cameras so that the police have a better chance of finding the person responsible.