Buena Park Hit-and-Run Victim Describes Incident Caught on Surveillance Video

The victim says he tried to roll over the hood of the car but instead was tossed into the street.

The victim of a Buena Park hit and run that was caught on surveillance video spoke out Wednesday for the first time since the incident.

"My first thought was, man, this is it, this it how it ends," said the victim, who did not want to be identified, knowing the driver was still at large.

The 20-year-old victim and his 17-year-old brother were walking toward their grandmother's house Sunday afternoon, when a gold-colored four door, possibly a Mitsubishi Galant, followed them east on Orangethorpe Avenue, then made a quick U-turn, striking the victim.

The victim says he tried to roll over the hood of the car but instead was tossed into the street.

Surveillance video captured the incident, which went down on Campus Drive at Orangethorpe Avenue in Buena Park shortly after noon on Sunday, June 10.

"We're treating it as assault with a deadly weapon," Cpl. Andy Luong of the Buena Park Police Department said Monday. "The vehicle being the weapon. Without the video, just a hit and run. Based on that surveillance video and witness statements, an assault."

In the video (below) released on YouTube by Buena Park Police, two people can be seen crossing the Campus Drive, a side street, when a vehicle travelling on Orangethorpe Avenue appeared to swerve out of the main road and directly into the victim, sending him into the air as he bounced off the windshield.

"When I hit the floor, I seen my brother run after the car," the victim said. "I knew I couldn't go now because maybe something would happen to him."

The victim said he is grateful to be alive, even though the accident continues to play over and over in his head.

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