Police Involved Car Crash at 11th and Park Rd, NW in front of Red Rocks

by Prince Of Petworth June 27, 2016 at 5:31 pm 26 Comments

crash

Thanks to Josh for sending around 5:30pm:

“both cop and person pursued wreck badly, person chased runs off. Cop injured”

Update: Thanks to a reader for passing on the security footage:

Wow cannot believe what I witnessed earlier today at park and 11th. Thank god everyone was pretty much okay. Maybe that cop was going a bit fast… @redrocksdc #columbiaheights #caraccident

A video posted by @sistamarycarroll on Jun 27, 2016 at 10:44pm PDT

Marty

Hope the officer is OK.
Stephanie

My daughter and I were at Red Rocks with another mom and toddler, sitting at the table t feet from where the cop car ended up. Watching the whole thing with 2 excited kids over a police car with lights and a siren. The cop wasn’t pursuing the other car, he was going through the wrong intersection at the wrong time. He also didn’t flee.
- Fre
  
  Wow I’m glad you and your family are okay. I also witnessed it happen. The police car was going really fast and accelerating. Maybe going 50 MPH when he hit the intersection. The car he hit was crossing the intersection on a green. But maybe didn’t hear the sirens. Most violent impact I’ve ever seen. T boned and both cars careened towards Red Rocks. I saw a family and hits running at Red rocks. Must have been terrifying because freaked me out from 50 feet away.
  - anon
    
    Wow – even with sirens on, aren’t the police supposed to drive carefully so they don’t hit other cars like this? I mean, is there even any justification for this?
    - Fre
      
      I would say the police were negligent in this case, and truly amazing no one got killed. The police car was was going fast and accelerating right up until the moment it hit the car. There was no caution at all. If Red Rocks didn’t have a raised patio both cars might have swept through the seating area. Instead the police car hit the brick wall of the patio after the impact with car. I believe the car that got hit was a new Dodge Charger, which probably is why the driver that got hit was able to walk away. Solid built with good safety features. If the car was an old civic or something it probably would have been split in half.
- Effie
  
  Thank you for this. Is there any procedure for eyewitness accounts when police are actually at fault? — I know that they will do everything in their power to say it wasn’t their fault, and they really need to be accountable for their stupid decisions from time to time. But they will deny, deny.
jesse

The cop will be found acting ‘by the book’ and this will be over in a minute.
anonymous

Sounds like Josh’s account is a bit off or exaggerated. Hope all parties recover
April

My kids (in the stroller outside meridian pint) were just being pushed into the intersection when the police car sped through the red light. Mere seconds from being hit. All witnesses agreed he didn’t slow down at all through intersection putting dozens of lives in danger.
Maiden of Mount Pleasant

Awful. I hope everyone involved is okay. I live in Mount Pleasant near the entry point to Piney Branch Parkway and notice high-speed MPD vehicles (mostly 4D) coursing down narrow, one-way streets on a daily basis. They regularly accelerate without sirens or lights towards Piney Branch. It’s harrowing given the regular pedestrian presence (lots of dog walkers and stroller pushers) and 25 mph speed limit. I’ve thought it’s only a matter of time until something like this happened and regret it had to happen this way. I appreciate the work MPD does, but perhaps they should revise their auto response policy and procedure.
bll

wow, sounds like a bad situation. question about all of this– when the cops say that there’s a no pursuit policy for the dirt bikes and ATVs, is that exclusive to those things, or is there an across the board no pursuit policy?
- Dan
  
  They pursue only for violent crimes. As hands-off as MPD can be, I’m surprised there’s ever a reason for them to run red lights.
  
  Was on a bike exactly where that SUV sits at 4:45PM. Not thrilled to see that a half hour shift in my scheduled could have resulted in my being creamed by an SUV running a red light. If the SUV didn’t see cars in the intersection, he certainly wouldn’t have seen me on my bike.
  - bll
    
    got it, thanks for the clarification!
Q

I was not there and have no idea what happened, but: I live a block away and can vouch that cop cars regularly drive WAY too fast through intersections around here. Not only is this a residential neighborhood, but the diagonal streets make visibility really bad. Cop cars also dart down streets with no sirens, only blipping them around the intersections. On 11th, it’s hard to see cars coming from the west on Park, so if there was no sustained siren, there’s a recipe for a bad accident. I don’t know if that’s what happened here, but I do hope it will result in everyone slowing the heck down.
DRJAMF

Why is there no other reporting on this incident? I saw the aftermath last night and it seemed like a fairly significant event. I’d like to know more about what happened and who will be held accountable but there is nothing out there.
Stephanie

Also – I want to sincerely thank everyone at Red Rocks. They were so caring and comforting to me, my friend and our kids after this. It was by far the scariest moment of our lives, and they were taking care of us until we stopped shaking enough to drive home.
Red Rocks has always been a favorite place for us because their food is amazing and their service is so warm and welcoming. We love sitting outside and taking in all the activity of people, dogs, bikes, cars (not barreling through the intersection). We were sitting outside enjoying all this when this horrible thing happened. I know this was a one-off incident, and look forward to enjoying many more lovely nights at Red Rocks for everything it has to offer.
If any of you are thinking of going out in the foreseeable future, please think about going to Red Rocks. We were the first customers for their night when this all went down, and nobody could come into the restaurant while we were there. I have no idea if they were able to eventually open, but am certain their business suffered.
Thanks, Red Rocks – and we’ll see you soon!
Regina

This cop flew through a red light at 50mph. Eye witnesses have confirmed this. He wasn’t chasing anyone.
- Ev0lution9
  
  Yup because you and all other witnesses had a speed radar camera on you. I love it.
  - whovous
    
    OK, 45mph then. What difference does it make when all the witnesses agree the cop blew through a red light at speed?
Ev0lution9

Person chased runs off? This was not a chase. Officer was in route to Georgia avenue to help another Officer that was dealing with an irate person. Thanks Josh for exaggerating.
- Stephanie
  
  I don’t think Josh was exaggerating. I heard his same story until I got a chance to talk to one of the cops an hour later. I’m pretty sure the driver just got the hell out of his car – probably a pretty normal reaction. According to the cop, he was still around waiting on medical care when we were leaving. I personally thank Josh for posting this, because the bigger issue is that cops shouldn’t be flying through intersections like this. I get that he was in route to help another officer, but in the end, he made himself 100% unable to help, and detoured a lot of other officers that might have been able to help with the original call. Taking 5 seconds longer to proceed through that light would have gotten him and other officers to his end goal a lot more effectively – without putting so many lives in danger. And no, nobody had a radar camera – but that car was going fast. Definitely above the speed limit, definitely without slowing, definitely across a red light without any hesitation – most likely (hopefully) out of normal protocol. The officer is lucky the other driver wasn’t killed and that the curb stopped his car from killing my kid, friends and me. This story wasn’t on the news because nobody died, but nobody dying doesn’t make flying through that intersection any less irresponsible.
  - victoria
    
    Well put. (Still horrible and inexcusable.)
Mary

I am the grandmother of the little boy sitting with his mother (my daughter) and their friends at the table at Red Rocks who narrowly missed being killed in this accident. Words can’t describe how grateful I am that they were spared so miraculously. The security video that is now no longer posted on this website shows how fast the cop car was traveling when it slammed into the trash can and the Red Rocks brick wall. The speed can be determined by a math equation; there is no discrepancy. There just CANNOT be such DISREGARD for human life even though there was an emergency elsewhere. Everyone, including cops MUST SLOW DOWN!! Thank you to Red Rocks for all you did to comfort my daughter, our grandson and their dear friends.
Ev0lution9

I doubt witnesses saw anything but the aftermath of the actual vehicle collision, even with lights and sirens on. Just like the other driver, who probably didnt see the officer coming until it was too late. Its not like you and your family were staring down the 1100 block of park rd watching the officer driving across 11th. So i would prefer to see the vehicles blackbox or video footage of the accident then to read your account of what you think happened. I’m Glad that you and your family are ok. josh exaggerated still imo.
- Stephanie
  
  So glad you find so much comfort in your doubts. We indeed were staring down the 1100 block… Watching the cop the entire way. Our toddlers were pumped that a police car with lights and a siren was coming. My friend even said to her son that it was his lucky night. Glee turned to utter fright in seconds. We did see the whole damn thing and have seen it on repeat from the security footage. I also assume that others saw the actual crash as they probably looked up in response to the siren… Especially the family about to cross the street. I might not be able to tell you the exact speed, but there is no flaw or gap in my account that the cop was speeding and didn’t slow down at all. And I haven’t noticed one witness saying anything to refute that.
Josh

Hi, this is Josh. Sorry about the confusion, I fired off the photo and one version of events I’d heard to popville, and I made it clear that I wasn’t sure that was what happened. Somebody at the scene told me that the guy in the other car ran off, and from that I assumed he was being chased. Incorrect in both I suppose. Just wanted to clear that up, glad all are ok.

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