Investigators say the crash was captured on city cameras on Warrington Avenue.
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — A 38-year-old woman is accused of using her ex-boyfriend’s SUV to hit him on a city sidewalk after a night of drinking, leading to attempted homicide and aggravated assault charges filed in Allegheny County, according to court records and police accounts.
The case, laid out in a criminal complaint, centers on a violent stretch of minutes early Sunday in the city’s Mount Washington area. Police say video from city cameras shows an argument and then a sudden burst of speed that ends with the SUV jumping a curb near a home on Warrington Avenue. The man was later found with severe injuries, and investigators say the footage and witness accounts drove the decision to file felony charges against Chanel Dyer.
Police say the incident unfolded after Dyer, her ex-boyfriend and two other people spent part of Saturday night and early Sunday morning drinking and moving between bars. At some point, Dyer told investigators, her ex-boyfriend was kicked out of a bar and the group ended up in a Chevrolet Tahoe. Dyer told police she was driving when she says her ex-boyfriend assaulted her inside the vehicle. She said she forced him out of the SUV, and then claimed he choked her after he got out, according to the criminal complaint.
Investigators describe a sharply different ending to that encounter. Police allege Dyer drove the Tahoe onto the sidewalk and struck her ex-boyfriend, then drove away. Court records say the man was later found bleeding from the head in the roadway. Police and medical responders who reached the scene described him as critically injured, with multiple severe internal injuries and serious head trauma, the complaint says. Officers previously said he was found unresponsive with a head injury after being hit by a vehicle in the area.
The complaint says city camera video captured the moments leading up to the impact. In the video description included in court paperwork, the Tahoe is seen stopping and Dyer is seen getting out and opening a rear passenger door. The man steps out, and Dyer walks back toward the driver’s side. The man follows, and the two appear to get into a physical altercation near the vehicle, the complaint says. When the struggle stops, Dyer is seen getting back into the Tahoe while the man stands in front of it. Investigators say the SUV then accelerates toward him and he disappears from view.
Video described in the complaint shows the Tahoe jumping the curb and driving onto the sidewalk in front of 632 Warrington Ave., then coming back off the sidewalk and continuing down the street. Seconds later, the man is seen lying in the middle of the north lane of Warrington Avenue, according to the complaint’s account of the footage. Police say the camera sequence supports the allegation that the crash was intentional, an important factor in the attempted homicide charge. Authorities have not publicly released the video described in the paperwork.
Dyer, in statements summarized in court documents, denied meaning to hit her ex-boyfriend. She told investigators she saw him in front of the Tahoe but said she was not aware she hit anyone, according to the complaint. She also told police she would never intentionally hit her ex-boyfriend, the records say. The man is identified in court paperwork as Hardick. Police have not provided additional details about his identity in the publicly available documents reviewed by local media.
Dyer was charged with criminal attempted homicide and aggravated assault, according to the filing. Those charges can carry lengthy prison terms if a defendant is convicted, and they signal that investigators believe the act went beyond a traffic crash or reckless driving allegation. The complaint does not say whether Dyer has a lawyer yet or whether she has entered a plea. Court records show she is being held in the Allegheny County Jail without bail.
Many key questions remain unresolved at this stage of the case, including whether there were additional witnesses beyond the four people police say were together that night, and what physical evidence investigators collected from the SUV and the scene. The complaint’s account focuses on the video timeline and Dyer’s statement that she was assaulted and choked. It does not include a public medical update beyond describing the man as critically injured with severe internal and head injuries, nor does it detail whether police documented injuries to Dyer consistent with her allegation.
The stretch of Warrington Avenue where the crash is alleged to have happened runs through the Mount Washington neighborhood, where narrow sidewalks sit close to the roadway and homes line the street. Police previously said the man was hit while he was on the sidewalk, before he was found in the road. Investigators have not said whether any additional vehicles were involved. The complaint’s description centers on a single Tahoe and the moments after it accelerated and mounted the curb.
In the days ahead, the case is expected to move through the early court steps typical for serious felony charges, including a preliminary hearing where prosecutors must show enough evidence to proceed. At that stage, investigators often outline the basics of video evidence, witness accounts and medical reports. Prosecutors may also seek to keep a defendant detained based on the seriousness of the allegations, while defense attorneys may argue for bail conditions. Court scheduling details were not included in the summary information released with the initial report.
The filing is the latest in a string of serious cases in which investigators rely on public camera systems to reconstruct fast-moving street violence. In this case, the complaint’s narrative leans heavily on what the camera is said to show: a stop, an argument, movement around the Tahoe, and then an acceleration toward the man before the SUV goes onto the sidewalk. Investigators say the video sequence is consistent with their allegation that the Tahoe was used as a weapon.
For now, Dyer remains jailed without bail as the man’s recovery and the criminal case continue on separate tracks. The next major milestone will be Dyer’s first substantive court hearing, where a judge will review the evidence outlined in the complaint and determine how the case will proceed.
Author note: Last updated March 3, 2026.