Tulsa Police Locate SUV That Injured Autistic Teen In Hit-And-Run

Police believe they've found a Chevy Tahoe involved in a hit and run accident early Thursday that left an autistic Tulsa teen fighting for his life. 

Officers are still looking for the driver.  

Police shut down traffic in the 9000 block of East 31st Street for more than two hours after the 16 year old was hit while crossing the street at about 3:40 a.m.

Officers say the teen was wearing dark colored clothing when the Chevy Tahoe hit him in front of the Briar Village Shopping Center.

The teen's mom reported him missing nearly 40 minutes before the accident.

Police say he's autistic and he's gone missing before.

"He's what's considered as a nonfunctional autistic child, which means he needs a lot of care," said Tulsa Police Cpl. Brian Cullum.

Before accident, witnesses told police they saw the teen walking in the road and swerved to avoid him.  Then, they went back to help him.

"He had kind of pointed back to the apartments and kind of mumbled some stuff they couldn't understand," said Cpl. Brian Cullum.

Investigators say the Tahoe kept going west on 31st, then turned north on Memorial Drive.

"The witnesses chased them down as far as they could but got concerned, came back and helped the child," said  Cpl. Brian Cullum.

Officers later found the SUV at the Autumn Ridge Apartments in the 1700 block of South Memorial Drive, but its driver was nowhere to be found.

At last word, police said the teenager is in critical condition with head and leg injuries.