This is the horrific moment a baby boy is run over by an SUV after crawling onto a road.

The incident took place on Rua Guararapes street, in the Chacara neighbourhood of Itaqui, a city in Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, on Wednesday, 17th May.

The CCTV footage shows the 19-month-old tot, named as Nathariel Costa Marques, crawling into the road, apparently from a front lawn, as the car can be seen heading straight towards it.

The vehicle then hits the baby and runs it over at speed before continuing on down the street without stopping.

The baby can be seen lying motionless on the road before an adult, reportedly the baby’s uncle, named as Rafael Mello Marques, frantically runs over to it and picks it up before heading out of shot.

The baby was taken to hospital and diagnosed with a dramatic brain injury. It remains in serious condition at the Hospital de Pronto Socorro in Porto Alegre.

The baby’s mother, Lidiana Costa, 24, told local media: “He’s mischievous, a super healthy, strong kid, he’s always playing.

“Now, he’s in there full of tubes and probes. He’s going to stay that way for the time being, and they say they’re going to reevaluate in 72 hours.”

She added: “It’s very sad. I’m always keeping an eye on him, caring, and then I looked over to the side and he was already in the middle of the street.

“I’m always by his side, we never imagined that this could happen. When I heard his uncle screaming, I thought Nathariel was choking or something.”

She explained that Nathariel had been playing in front of the house with his uncle’s skateboard and that he performed first aid after the accident. She added that the footage shows Nathariel pushing the skateboard onto the road.

Lidiana said: “They just put tarmac down on the road, so a lot of cars and trucks pass by. But you can see that he [the driver] runs him over, and even brakes, but then decides to continue without helping.”

The driver, who has not been named, did not stop, according to the police, but was tracked down the same day. He was questioned before being released pending charges, according to the investigator in charge of the case, Ericson Mota.

The authorities are investigating both how the driver came to run over the child and why the child was able to crawl unsupervised onto the road in the first place.