Home Surveillance Cams Capture St. Paul Hit-And-Run Crash
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- Friends are asking for prayers and donations for a young mother of two who was critically wounded by a hit-and-run driver.
The crash happened Monday evening at the intersection of 6th Street and Cypress Street on the east side of St. Paul.
Sophia Bouwens, 26, was broadsided by a driver who ran a stop sign.
A surveillance camera outside a home near the intersection captured the crash and images of the other driver walking away from the scene.
The homeowner, Burgess Harrison, installed seven cameras outside his home last year after a burglary.
One of those cameras captured a driver running a stop sign Monday evening on Cypress, and slamming into the driver's side of Bouwens' car.
Bouwens is a mother of two little girls. She was on her way home from work as an acupuncturist when the crash happened. A friend says she may not be able to work again for another year.
According to the family's GoFundMe site, Bouwens has several fractures of her face, skull and spine. She'll need surgeries and therapy, and it will take several months to heal.
As bad as the crash scene was, it wasn't all that Harrison's surveillance system captured. Another camera caught the other driver and two passengers taking off.
Police later arrested Danielle Sivels, 30, who has several driving citations on her record.
"It was just really sad that they would leave an accident scene where somebody is so critically injured and wouldn't even try to help that person," Harrison said.
Sivels has not yet been charged with a crime.
