This article was originally published on GoErie.com by Tim Hahn on May 30, 2017

Erie police are hunting for additional witnesses and more surveillance video in an effort to find the vehicle that struck and seriously injured an 8-year-old boy on the Bayfront Connector late Sunday afternoon.

Police still had not determined on Tuesday the make and model of the vehicle, described as possibly a white or silver crossover-type sport-utility vehicle, that struck the boy as the boy was walking across the Bayfront Connector heading southwest near the Broad Street on-ramp at about 5:15 p.m. Sunday. The southbound vehicle did not stop and continued traveling south on the Bayfront Connector after the crash, according to police.

The boy was taken to UPMC Hamot after the crash. Information on his condition, and whether he remained hospitalized, was unavailable Tuesday.

The boy was heading across the Bayfront Connector, toward the Burger King restaurant in the 2500 block of Broad Street, with a group of six children who were split up into smaller groups as they crossed the roadway, Erie police Sgt. Jeff Annunziata, who is investigating the crash, said Tuesday. The boy was with some older teenagers who had stopped in the median, but the boy continued across the road and was struck, Annunziata said.

According to Annunziata, the vehicle that struck the boy reportedly tried to avoid hitting the boy before the crash occurred.

Investigators spoke to some witnesses to the crash, and they have recovered surveillance video in the area that possibly shows the vehicle.

Police Chief Donald Dacus said Tuesday that investigators believe there are more witnesses to the crash because some southbound vehicles were stopped in the left-hand turn lane of the Bayfront Connector at the Broad Street exit, and the children crossed in between them before entering the lanes of the oncoming traffic.

“We believe more vehicles witnessed the accident than what remained on scene,” he said.

Dacus also said investigators are expanding their search for surveillance video beyond the area of the crash in hopes of capturing clearer images of the hitting vehicle.

“We have surveillance video which shows a vehicle consistent with what witnesses described, but we don’t have anything on the driver at all,” he said.

The area where the boy was hit does not have a crosswalk, and Dacus said pedestrians are prohibited on the Bayfront Connector. A bikeway runs along the north side of the highway and is the only access for pedestrians, he said, adding that sidewalks are located on Broad Street, which runs under the Bayfront Connector, for pedestrians traveling from the east side of the highway to the west side.

Anyone with information that could assist in the ongoing crash investigation is asked to contact Annunziata at 870-1419.