Columbus police investigating hit-and-run on Broadway sidewalk

Columbus police are investigating a motorist who hit two pedestrians on a downtown sidewalk Sunday afternoon.

The incident happened in the 1200 block of Broadway just after 3:30 p.m., according to surveillance footage from one of the properties in that area. A black sedan can be seen speeding along the sidewalk mid-block. The vehicle hit two people, who suffered non-life-threatening injuries, said Maj. J.D. Hawk.

There is no suspect in custody and police are piecing together the incident from multiple video security systems in the area.

One video shows a piece of the car flying off as it travels on the sidewalk. Police are not saying the make and model of the vehicle.

The car was on the east side of the sidewalk from 12th Street to 13th Street, Hawk said. The surveillance video appears to show the car turning left onto the 13th Street bridge headed toward Phenix City.

Before it reached the end of the 1200 block, it sped past Kilwin’s, a popular ice cream and chocolate shop in that block. Owner Matt Moore said he had four employees in the building at the time of the incident. There had been a number of customers in chairs on the sidewalk outside the store before the car came down the sidewalk, but they were gone at the time of the incident.

“We were fortunate no one here was hurt,” Moore said.

Developer Chris Woodruff, who owns the building Kilwin’s leases, said surveillance video shows the car coming by in a blur.

The building just south of Kilwin’s is under renovation and part of the sidewalk has been torn up and a barrier was erected.

“You can see cones flying and car is a blur as it speeds past,” Woodruff said. “It was almost as if the car was on the highway. They threaded the needle at Kilwin’s.”

Jim Thorsen, who lives in a loft apartment in that block, was home at the time of the incident, but did not hear anything.

“It looks like whoever was driving hit the construction up the block and that’s what tore the front off,” Thorsen said.

Multiple property owners are cooperating with the police investigation.

This story was originally published December 18, 2017 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Columbus police investigating hit-and-run on Broadway sidewalk."