LOCAL

UPDATE: Police seeking pair who fled crash that left 5-year-old critically injured

Kelsey Bradshaw,Mary Huber
kbradshaw@statesman.com

A 5-year-old girl was critically injured Thursday morning in a hit-and-run crash in Southeast Austin, Austin police officials said.

Austin-Travis County EMS medics said they were called at around 7:39 a.m. to the 5100 block of Palo Blanco Lane in Southeast Austin, near the intersection of Teri Road and South Pleasant Valley Road, for the crash. A vehicle had been headed north on Palo Blanco and turned west onto Teri Road, when it was struck by a truck that was headed east, police officials said.

After the collision, the two people who were in the truck got out and ran away, authorities said.

Police said they think they know who they are, but on Thursday morning they had not yet been arrested.

After the crash, a passerby reportedly rushed to the other vehicle and began to perform CPR on the 5-year-old child, who was in the back seat unconscious, authorities said. When medics arrived, they rushed her to Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas with serious and potentially life-threatening injures, officials said.

"She's in bad shape right now," senior police officer Demitri Hobbs told reporters Thursday.

The girl's mother and stepfather were also injured, but their injuries are only minor, he said.

The people who fled from the crash could face felony charges of failure to stop and render aid, Hobbs said.

"If you get in a collision, you need to stop. You need to find out if anyone is hurt, find out what's going on, give your information," he said. "They didn't do that."

Medics said road closures and traffic delays are expected in the area.

FINAL: Traffic collision at 5100 block of Palo Blanco Ln;#ATCEMSMedics transporting 1 unconscious pediatric patient to Dell Childrens Medical Center with critical life-threatening injuries. Expect road closures &#ATXTraffic delays and watch for investigators working in the area

— ATCEMS (@ATCEMS)March 21, 2019