Pickup driver hits couple and 3-year-old, then flees in Passos, Brazil.

Pickup driver hits couple and 3-year-old, then flees in Passos, Brazil.

NEWS:

A pickup truck driver struck a couple and a 3-year-old child and fled without rendering aid in Passos, Minas Gerais, Brazil, during the early hours of Friday, May 8, 2026.

The hit-and-run occurred on Rua da Praia in the Penha neighborhood and was recorded by a surveillance camera.

The footage shows a 33-year-old man walking along the street while carrying the child in his arms. A 44-year-old woman walks beside them. The pickup approaches from behind and drives directly into the three pedestrians.

The impact throws the man and the child toward the sidewalk. The woman is also struck and falls onto the roadway. The pickup continues away from the scene without stopping.

The video directly establishes the collision and the driver’s immediate departure. It does not show what the driver was doing inside the vehicle before the impact or establish his physical condition at that moment.

Emergency responders took all three victims to Santa Casa de Passos. Police initially reported that their conditions were stable and that none of them faced a life-threatening medical emergency.

Investigators identified the suspected driver and located the pickup later that day. Police seized the vehicle at his residence before 9 p.m., but the driver was not there.

The vehicle had visible collision damage. Police also reported finding strands of hair from one of the victims attached to the windshield. The pickup was retained for forensic examination.

Investigators used information from a tracking system installed in the vehicle to reconstruct its movements before the hit-and-run. The tracking data led officers to a restaurant in Passos where the driver had spent several hours before getting behind the wheel.

Police interviewed restaurant employees, obtained surveillance footage and examined the bill associated with the table. According to the investigation, the driver was with a group of approximately seven or eight people who remained at the establishment for about six hours.

The group’s bill recorded more than 100 servings of draft beer. That figure represented the combined order for the table and was not established as the amount personally consumed by the driver.

Police said the restaurant evidence confirmed that the motorist consumed alcohol before driving. Investigators had approximately six hours of footage from the establishment, as well as the vehicle’s location history and testimony from employees who served the group.

Delegate Paulo Queiroz, who publicly detailed the investigation, said authorities were certain that alcohol had been consumed and believed the consumption had been excessive.

The police investigation connected the driver’s loss of control to impairment caused by alcohol. That assessment was based on the evidence gathered from the restaurant, the vehicle tracker and the recorded dynamics of the collision.

The surveillance footage from Rua da Praia shows the pickup entering the area where the pedestrians were walking and striking them without any visible successful evasive maneuver. The recording does not provide a reliable basis for calculating the vehicle’s speed.

The driver left Passos after the collision, according to information obtained during the investigation. His attorney told police that he had left the city because he feared retaliation due to the severity of the incident. That explanation came from the defense and was not established independently by the video.

The investigated driver later appeared voluntarily at the Passos police station with legal representation. He exercised his right to remain silent during formal questioning and was released after the required procedures.

Police said the driver lived and worked in Passos but was not originally from the city. Investigators found no indication that he knew the victims before the collision.

The defense said the motorist was cooperating with the investigation. It also stated that financial assistance was being directed to the victims to help cover costs associated with their medical recovery.

The 3-year-old child and the 33-year-old man were discharged from the hospital on Sunday, May 10. The 44-year-old woman, who suffered fractures, was discharged on Monday, May 11.

Police reported that the woman still had incomplete memories of the collision after leaving the hospital. Investigators planned to question her when her medical condition permitted. The man who had been carrying the child was also expected to give a formal statement.

No evidence reviewed for this report establishes that the pickup driver deliberately targeted the pedestrians. The confirmed investigative theory was that he lost control of the vehicle after consuming alcohol.

The publicly reported inquiry addressed suspected negligent bodily injury while driving, failure to render aid and alcohol-related traffic offenses. The motorist had not been publicly reported as jailed in the latest verified update.

As of May 12, all three victims were out of the hospital, the pickup remained in police custody for forensic examination and the driver was responding to the investigation while free.

News story written by DarkGore.

For more on this case:

If you want to know more about this case, just visit the following URL: https://g1.globo.com/mg/sul-de-minas/noticia/2026/05/07/ocorrencias-de-transito-sul-de-mg.ghtml