10th Street, NW Hit and Run Saturday Night

“Dear PoP,

At around 9:15pm cops pulled over two young black males in a tan mercedes at the corner of 10th and U for a taillight that was out. When the cop got out of the car the driver stepped on the gas and tried to getaway from the police by heading north up 10th street at about 50mph. At the intersection of 10th and W they blew through the stop sign and t-boned a taxi cab driving east on W. The totaled mercedes skidded halfway up 10th street and came to a halt right in front of myself, my fiance, and a friend. We ran over to the car not knowing they were in a chase and the two men jumped out of the car (you’ll see how surprising this is once you see the photos), grabbed a bag out of trunk (at which point i thought ‘shit’) and sprinted past us north on tenth. The cops caught one of the suspects on Sherman ave but the other was able to get away (as of last night). The crime scene investigators were able to retrieve cell phones, blood, and prints from the car so the suspect who managed to evade the police likely won’t be at large for long.

View Larger Map

The taxi cab ended up in the front yard of a house on the corner of 10th and W with it’s right side completely obliterated. Despite it taking about 30 minutes for the cab driver to be removed from the vehicle (they had to cut him out with the jaws of life) we heard from authorities that he would be okay. Very lucky that he did not have any passengers as it likely would not have ended without fatality.

While this event was clearly not the norm, it does highlight that the intersection of 10th and W should probably be a four-way stop. The fact that cars heading east on W do not have to stop is strange given it is a side street and this often causes confusion among drivers not familiar with the area.

I’ll be wearing a seatbelt while riding in cabs from now on.”