Disabled Soulard resident and his dog lucky to be alive

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - A terrifying experience for a disabled Soulard resident after he and his dog are hit by a car that left the scene.

While Joe Tyler is thankful he and his dog are alive, he's also frustrated with the lack of traffic enforcement in the City of St. Louis. Tyler says he was in a crosswalk, with the green light, at 12th and Russell, he looked both ways before crossing and was almost all the way across the intersection, 'when this car lowed into the side of me while I was in my wheel chair. knocked me over. Luckily, no broken bones, but pain in my back and side. And also luckily, my dog is trained to walk on the left side, so he heels on my left and the car hit me on the right side, my chair took the majority of the impact. The dog was startled, but did not get hit." The car then drove off.

The vehicle is dark in color, four door sedan. Tyler said the windows were tinted so he could not see whether a male or female was driving the vehicle. It did not have license plates.

Tyler says police responded and took a report. However, when he followed up with police to see if they had a copy of the video yet, he was informed police are too short staffed. He was told there were only two officers on duty in the third district.

This is not the first time KMOX has reported on only two officers being on duty in one of the busiest police districts in the City. We have confirmed it has happened on more than one occasion. KMOX also obtained inter departmental communications, confirming the shortage of officers.

KMOX has reached out to the St. Louis Police Department for comment, but as of this writing we have not heard back