After the driver of an SUV beckoned a woman onto Magazine Street and then ran over her intentionally last week, investigators are hoping the Magazine Street business community can help them identify the vehicle, New Orleans police said.

The woman left a restaurant in the 2000 block of Magazine Street in the Lower Garden District around 7 p.m. last Thursday (June 5) and stood at the curb, waiting for a gap in the passing traffic so she could cross the street, said NOPD Sgt. Daniel Scanlan at the Wednesday’s weekly meeting of the NOPD Sixth District ranking officers. A silver SUV stopped, and she saw the driver motion with his hand for her to cross, so she stepped forward, Scanlan said.

At that point, the SUV then accelerated and hit the woman, Scanlan said. As it passed her, it stopped briefly for one of the occupants to say “Ha-ha, bitch,” and then drove on, Scanlan said.

The woman required treatment at the hospital for her injuries, Scanlan said. The crime is currently being classified as an aggravated battery — an attack on a person with a deadly weapon.

“In the manner in which it was used, the vehicle was a weapon, no different than a baseball bat,” Scanlan said. “He lured her into the street, and then he hit her.”

The victim didn’t get a good look at the vehicle or its occupants, but it was possibly a SUV similar to a Chevrolet Tahoe, Scanlan said, with three people inside.

One surveillance camera investigators found near the site of the incident only captured a portion of the passing vehicle, not enough to help with its identification, Scanlan said. If any other business owners along that stretch of Magazine have cameras focused on the street, they are asked to review their footage from just before and after 7:02 p.m. June 5 and call the Sixth District at 658-6060 with any information that could be useful.

Anyone else with information can also call CrimeStoppers at 822-1111 to leave an anonymous tip that could be eligible for a cash reward.