Mother finds daughter critically injured after hit-and-run outside her Philly home

"She was just a few feet away from the front door of the house where she lives," police said.

Katherine Scott Image
Tuesday, August 16, 2022
Mom finds daughter critically injured after hit-and-run outside home
"When I saw my daughter on the street, I was like, 'Oh my God," recalled Brittney Caban's mother Nayda Ortiz.

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A 31-year-old woman was struck in a hit-and-run in the Lawncrest section of Philadelphia on Monday night.

It happened around 11:45 p.m. on Rising Sun Avenue by Sanger Street.

"She was just a few feet away from the front door of the house where she lives when she got hit by this vehicle," Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said.

Action News obtained surveillance videos of the incident taken by nearby cameras.

The victim's mother identified the woman as Brittney Caban.

Brittney Caban

"When I saw my daughter on the street, I was like, 'Oh my God," recalled Caban's mother Nayda Ortiz.

Caban was rushed to Einstein Medical Center in critical condition and was stabilized.

Ortiz said Caban had run out to the car to get puppy pads for her dog, Boss.

The pads were scattered across the street.

Ortiz was puzzled as to what was taking her daughter so long. A neighbor ran to her home to get her mother.

"Her body was all discombobulated. I said, 'My daughter's dead.' I screamed her name and she said, 'Mom.' And then- at that moment- the ambulance came, the cops came, all at once. They were able to get her in the hospital just in time," Ortiz said.

Investigators said the vehicle was going north on Rising Sun when it hit Caban and kept going.

The striking vehicle in the Lawncrest hit-and-run is seen in surveillance video.

"According to the witness, they heard a loud thump, and they realized the vehicle that hit her was driving at such a high rate of speed they couldn't even make out the color or the type of vehicle. That's how fast, according to the witness, this vehicle was traveling," Small said.

When police found Caban, she was semi-conscious. Police said she was having trouble breathing, and suffering from head trauma with a broken arm.

At the hospital, Ortiz said her daughter was in and out, not talking much.

"She didn't know what happened. She doesn't remember. I asked her; she said, 'I don't remember.' She didn't even know she was in the hospital," Ortiz said.

Neighbors called Rising Sun and Sanger a dangerous intersection, especially given how many people live in homes nearby.

"From a traffic standpoint, I believe they should put a light right here," said Dennis Freeman of Lawncrest.

"It's crazy because my son lives here, and I'm like- I don't want you walking across the street or my son getting hit," added resident Noble Clardyel.

Police were looking at the footage from the surveillance cameras to help in their investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police.