Facebook and a Doorbell Camera Catch Hit & Run Driver

Washakie County law enforcement officials successfully sought the public’s help to find the vehicle involved in a hit-and-run in Worland.

The Washakie County Sheriff’s Office and the Worland Police Department took to Facebook Tuesday afternoon with a video and vehicle description, hoping the information would give them a direction towards finding a culprit of a destructive and blatant crime.

On Monday night around 9:37 p.m. in the 100 block of Culbertson Avenue, a white pickup truck was driving down the road and slammed into the back of a parked vehicle with enough to send it slamming into a flatbed trailer parked several feet ahead.

The pickup truck left the scene immediately after the incident. The Sheriff’s Office quantified the damage it caused as “significant and disabling.”

Jan Taylor — the owner of the trailer — elaborated on the damage on Facebook: “When that truck hit the car, it pushed the car into our flatbed. Destroying the back gate, the right tire rim, and it was so hard it snapped a large pin almost in half. There is not much of the car left.”

Luckily, the owners of the totaled car had a witness to the crime: a doorbell camera.

While the camera wasn’t close enough to get the license plate or exact make and model of the truck, it captured the entire incident and gave officers enough details to tell the public what to look for on their Facebook page.

Thanks to the viral nature of Facebook, the video was quickly and widely circulated. Several people and pages shared the video and the description of the pickup truck . . .

. . . and within three hours, the truck was found.

In the same afternoon that the video and description were posted, Washakie County authorities commented on the original post with an update.

“The vehicle and the owner have been located thanks to the public’s help on this. We appreciate the community’s support in helping us solve this. It was fortunate that the homeowner had a doorbell camera in this incident which was very helpful with giving us a direction to go with this investigation. Thank you again – WPD”

No other details are available at this time.

Thanks to Facebook, a doorbell camera, and the public’s diligence, it’s case closed for this hit and run driver.