FLUSHING, Queens (PIX11) -- A heartbroken family is asking for the public's help in finding whoever ran over their toddler, killing him, and then driving away.

They're hoping that details from the surveillance video of the tragedy and their pleas for help will result in somebody coming forward with information to help crack the case. 

The hit-and-run happened just before 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday on College Point Boulevard, near the intersection with 41st Avenue. 

Quintus Chen is the three-year-old who was killed in front of his father's eyes. 

Those eyes were full of tears on Thursday as Jimmy Chen, 34, described the horrific scene he witnessed on Wednesday evening. 

"I yelled to the driver," Chen said in Chinese, which his wife, who chose not to give her name, translated. "He says, 'Stop it, stop it, there is a kid in front of you!'" they recounted. "But the driver ignore[d]" the warning, she said.

The parents said that their son, who was in pre-school, was a valued part of their lives.

"He's a sweet boy," Quintus's mother said in the kitchen of their home that's a few blocks from the collision scene. "He's adorable," she continued. "He even teach[es his] grandparents English."

Surveillance video of the intersection where it happened shows that just before 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, a white Infiniti Q-50 was parked on the boulevard in front of a Dunkin' Donuts. The driver got in, turned on the headlights, and the toddler darted out toward the car just before the driver pulled away. 

A moment later, the driver pulled away from the curb.

"When he struck a three-year-old male pedestrian crossing in front of the vehicle," the NYPD said in a statement on Thursday. "The pedestrian fell to the ground and was subsequently struck by the driver-side tires."

The toddler's mother described what had happened next. 

"A lady already yelled to the driver, 'There is a kid in front of you! Be careful,'" she recalled.

The surveillance video shows how the child was dragged about 20 feet, and his family and onlookers removed him from the street, where he'd ended up. They called 911 and tried to save his life, to no avail. 

Quintus Chen was pronounced dead at a local hospital. 

Police said they found the abandoned car four blocks away at College Point Boulevard and Pople Avenue. The vehicle has not been reported stolen since the Wednesday evening incident. 

On Thursday, police put up an electronic sign at the scene, asking people to share any information about the tragedy and who may be behind it. 

The toddler's family also asked for people's help as they mourned the deep loss of their child. 

"He's so loving," his mother said. "We miss him so much."