Police identify 4-year-old boy seriously injured in hit-and-run collision

El Paso Police are still searching for the driver who fled the scene after striking a four-year-old boy with his car on Sunday.

It happened on the 9400 block of Ariel Rico Court in El Paso’s Lower Valley.

Police identified the boy as Jace Contreras. He was taken to University Medical Center with serious injuries.

Neighbors told ABC-7 Contreras was with his father buying ice cream from an ice cream truck parked in the street.

After getting the ice cream, he ran back towards his home. That’s when he was struck,

“The truck came really fast.” neighbor Janessa Jacquez said. “He didn’t even bother to stop. He just kept on going. The little boy was on the floor.”

Jacquez said Contreras was visiting his grandmother, who lives on 9414 Ariel Rico Court.

“It sounded like a car crash, and when we came out we saw the little boy on the floor,” Jacquez said. “It happened so fast. It was crazy.”

El Paso police are looking for a dark SUV. They say the driver is a Hispanic male.

New numbers from the El Paso Police Department show there were nearly 5,000 hit-and-run collisions throughout the city last year. About 1,600 hit-and-run crashes have already been reported this year.

“It falls under the traffic code accident involving injury, or in some cases where an individual may die, death,” El Paso Police spokesman Darrel Petry said.

According to state law, if a person flees the scene and the person they hit dies, it could be classified as a second-degree felony, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Neighbors said Contreras is stable, but he suffered injuries to his legs and head.

If you have any information that may help police in the investigation, please call the police at 915-832-4400.