Terrible Car Crash in Hill East; Another Shooting in Lamond Riggs – Three Shot at 7:30pm

by Prince Of Petworth September 26, 2016 at 9:30 am 72 Comments

A reader reports:

“A horrific car accident happened around 1pm this afternoon. Car totaled at least 5 cars including their own for the length of the block. Neighbor pulled a woman out of the car and they were taken to hospital. I heard a police officer report other cars were hit at 17th and A SE. It’s a miracle no one else was hurt. I stayed long enough to check the license plate when they were turned over…Maryland.”

Update from MPD:

“Yesterday afternoon at approximately 2:20 PM, First Police District Units were dispatched to 17th and A Street N.E for a hit and run accident involving two (2) vehicles. The striking vehicle that fled the scene was described as a blue color Chevrolet Impala bearing a Maryland tag.

A short time later. 1D Officers responded to 500 block of Kentucky Ave. SE for a major accident involved a blue color Chevrolet Impala bearing Maryland tags and several others vehicles. The driver of the blue Chevrolet Impala was taken to a local area hospital due to injuries sustained in this accident.

Further investigation of this blue color Chevrolet Impala bearing Maryland tag was linked to the accident at 17th and A Street N.E and the driver was arrested for Hit and Run.”

map
via google maps

From MPD:

“Around 7:30 PM this Sunday, MPD responded to the report of a shooting in the 500 block of Oglethorpe Street, NE. Three victims were found to have been injured from gun fire. All three victims sustained non-life threatening injuries and were transported to local hospitals for treatment. It is believed that a dark colored vehicle was involved in the shooting.

Anyone with information regarding this offense should call the MPD at 202-727-9099 or text at 50411.”

Ed. Note: Earlier Sunday Morning there was a shooting homicide in the 400 block of Riggs Road, Northeast.

Shaking My head

I’m not sure where this Maryland license plate “joke” originated, but the last line in this column, wherein the person stayed to see where the license plate was from is both not funny and disgusting at the same time.. They didn’t stay because of concern, rather to check the license plate. You’ve truly outdone yourself.
- pjl35
  
  I came here to say just that. All concern for the driver was erased by that last line. Very poor taste.
  - Hill Resident
    
    I don’t have much concern for the driver. I have concern for the residents of this area, pedestrians and the other drivers who are put at risk by the reckless, dangerous driving that led to this crash. You don’t flip your car and total five other cars when following the speed limit. And yes, a lot of it is Maryland drivers. Maryland does not enforce traffic laws and drivers from Maryland come into the District and drive the same way they are used to driving in Maryland.
    - stacksp
      
      DC doesnt enfore traffic laws either and DC drivers do the exact same thing.
      - Hill Resident
        
        A lot of DC drivers are terrible. But people are less likely to speed in the neighborhood in which they live and in which they are pedestrians. I don’t see my neighbors driving through residential streets at 60 mph. I see them driving at 15 mph, stopping for pedestrians, waiting for bikes, etc. For a lot of Maryland drivers, these roads on Capitol Hill are just a thoroughfare to Rte 50 or 295 – speed limits be damned.
      - Anon
        
        This is a very good point. I’ve noticed a significant change in how I drive since moving into the city. I am much more cognizant of pedestrians now and take much greater care driving around in general. I feel like a protracted PSA campaign could do a good job educating drivers to be more careful and attentive when driving in a densely-populated area.
    - HaileUnlikely
      
      I’d be concerned about the residents (for the reasons you state) but also for the driver. Hitting multiple cars on two streets blocks apart (if there were indeed other cars struck at 17th & A as reported) is well beyond the scope of run-of-the-mill recklessness. Sure, it is possible the driver was high, but that is also consistent with the driver being incapacitated (prior to the crash, e.g., heart attack / stroke / seizure) or some sort of mechanical failure of the vehicle.
      .
      I once witnessed a tractor trailer lose its brakes coming off of a ramp and losing its brakes while attempting to make a left turn at an intersection. I was standing in a bus shelter about 100 feet away – it was f*cking terrifying. When the driver realized his brakes had failed, he steered into a line of parked cars, as this was legitimately his best chance to bring the truck to a stop in a dense urban environment without hitting actual people.
      .
      Sure, the driver might have been high on PCP, or a teenager who doesn’t know how to drive driving a stolen car, or some idiot trying to see how fast his car can go. But without knowing all of the facts, I don’t want to rush to judge somebody who likely sustained life-altering injuries.
      - KY Ave
        
        Driver was high, tried to light up after being pulled out of the car. The article doesn’t mention the 5 or so other cars that were hit and damaged (just not totaled) on both sides of Kentucky. Most of the hit cars were MD churchgoers, so go ahead now everyone and start in on that…
    - kittycatbob
      
      Amen to that. I live in right off 17th SE and Maryland drivers treat this street like their personal speedway. I feel nothing for this driver. My only hope is that he gets well enough to get thrown in jail for hit and run and faces charges.
- anon
  
  It’s because Maryland drivers are bad. That’s the joke. It’s a joke.
  - Hill Denizen
    
    It is a tasteless joke. While I have definitely seen my fair share of crappy Maryland drivers, this is utter negligence, probably impaired driving, not simply bad driving. Staying around, not for any concern for the injured parties, but to give yourself a pat on the back for proving a stereotype, is disgusting.
  - Anon
    
    Let’s be even more precise. It’s a euphenism and everyone knows it.
    - Anon
      
      euphemism, yeah I know. It’s Monday.
    - Anon
      
      Edit- *euphemism* yeah I know. It’s Monday.
    - Anonymous
      
      I’ve never thought it was a euphemism. What do you think it’s a euphemism for?
    - NH Ave Hiker
      
      Are you really trying to say that “Maryland drivers” is a euphemism for “black drivers?” Because I don’t think that’s the case…
- anon2
  
  +1000, I had the same reaction. Very poor taste.
  - Prince Of Petworth
    
    I can certainly see the poor taste interpretation – do you also believe noting that it was a Maryland License plate is racist as Joe alleges?
    - anon2
      
      Racist… no. I just think the way it was worded combined with the severity of the crash came off in poor taste. I also have never really understood the whole MD driver “joke”. DC shares a majority of its border with MD, obviously there is going to be a large number of MD drivers. Maybe if Trump wins, he can build a wall to keep all the MD drivers out.
      - Anonymous
        
        I’d prefer a Commuter Tax and zone tolling to keep MD commuters out. It would be much more effective and actually account for negative externalities associated with single occupancy car commuting. There’s a good reason DC roads are in atrocious shape – too many out-of-state commuters & delivery trucks and practically zero dollars contributed by those same drivers to the upkeep of DC roads.
      - west_egg
        
        @Anonymous 11:19 — actually, the reason DC’s roads are in terrible shape is because the Gray and Bowser administrations are horrible at prioritizing capital maintenance projects. The city’s cash reserves are measured in billions of dollars at this point. It’s not for lack of funding.
    - SWChick
      
      There is absolutely nothing racist about saying “Maryland Drivers” but the thought that all Maryland drivers are horrible is completely ridiculous. I am a Maryland driver who now lives in DC with DC tags but I’m still a Maryland driver, right? Ive always thought it was crazy how much ppl care about a liscence plate. A bad driver is a bad driver. And as we figured out last week or so, most DC drivers are from Ohio anyway. Lol
      - dcpolis
        
        I don’t think it’s the fact anyone is from Maryland in a familial sense, but rather the change in infrastructure between MD andd DC (or OH for that matter) without a change in driving style. So someone can move to DC, become more accustomed to driving in the city than on highways, and become a DC driver.
      - Anonamom
        
        I also never thought it was racist. Also, what am I know? I was a MD driver, who eventually got DC plates, who now lives in MD and still has DC plates…. So I’m sure people cuss me out for being a DC driver when really I am an MD driver….
      - navyard
        
        Maryland does not have a driving law for passing on the left (“Keep Right, Pass Left”). This leads to Maryland drivers camping out in the left hand lane and not yielding to faster traffic. That then leads to aggressive driving, which causes accidents.
        Maryland: Even if it’s not the law in your state, it’s just good manners to get out of the way for faster traffic in the left lane. New State motto: MOVE OVER MARYLAND!
    - JoDa
      
      Not racist. All my friends who grew up in the nearby MD suburbs are white, all are terrible drivers. They fit the stereotype as much as anyone else I’ve ever seen with an MD tag in the city.
      .
      If the above comment about the driver being high and trying to light up after being pulled out is true, I’m also not particularly bothered by the smugness. Is DC as lax about suspending licenses as they are about locking up violent criminals pending trial?
- Tsar of Truxton
  
  Well, per the post, the driver had already been taken to the hospital, so not sure how staying or not staying would impact concern for the driver at that point. It’s not like the hospital was going to send a representative back to the spot of the accident to keep all the people standing around informed about the state of the driver.
  - anon
    
    Shhh, you’re ruining their narrative. This person is awful for making an awful joke! Scold them on the internet! This place is ridiculous.
huh

Where did the car crash happen? Sounds like it happened elsewhere and there was more damage at 17th and A SE.
- Rachel
  
  15th and Kentucky SE
Anon

I find the way out of state drivers rip through our streets both not funny and disgusting at the same time.
- NH Ave Hiker
  
  Right, like it’s always out of state drivers. DC drivers are some of the worst I’ve ever seen.
- Joe
  
  You have absolutely no proof that DC drivers dont do the same thing
- HaileUnlikely
  
  This crash sounds sufficiently f*cked up that it is a good bet that somebody was high or suffering from some sort of medical event or a mechanical failure of their vehicle. If the description of the crash is accurate or even close, this is not within the realm of ordinary careless driving and is far beyond the scope of the constellation of issues alluded to in generalizations or jokes about “MD drivers” or “DC drivers.”
  - KY Ave
    
    High according to the cops on scene
Joe

So glad that in a headline about a fatality, the editor of this blog had no problem taking a Maryland cheap shot… don’t bother helping, just continue an offensive and subtly racist stereotype… Good job as always popville
- Prince Of Petworth
  
  Thank you for your continued patronage.
- HaileUnlikely
  
  Headline about a fatality? Where are you getting the information that there was a fatality?
  - Prince Of Petworth
    
    Ed. Note: Regarding the 7:30pm Shooting “All three victims sustained non-life threatening injuries”.
- Neighbor
  
  It is not known that there was a fatality. The driver and passenger were taken to the hospital. The Maryland license plate is a fact. What is also a fact is that a mothers car with 3 car seats was totaled, another mom had just finished unlaoding groceries from her car. It is a street that has a stop sign on one end of the block and a stop light on the other end. The speed that caused this is inexcusable. My prayers go out to everyone involved.
- ET
  
  First off, the comment about the Maryland plates came from the person who sent in the information about the crash so it wasn’t PoP making the “cheap shot.” And the comment was directed at the car in the crash and not either the shooting or the homicide. Lastly, the headline didn’t even make reference to the homicide. Reading comprehension is clearly not your strong suit.
  - Anon
    
    DAS RACIST!
- sheesh
  
  Certainly not racist, that’s a stretch of your want to be offended. This is a residential area, where as a resident and bike commuter, I can speak to the use of the roads as either an in-road or out-road for Maryland drivers in which they frequently disobey the posted speed limit in their rush from or to the suburbs. The driver seems to have been extremely inebriated or unfit to drive, guessing drunk, to have totaled 5 cars over multiple blocks.
- Hill Resident
  
  This isn’t about race, this is about a traffic enforcement and safe driving. I’m scared to drive US-50 between DC and Annapolis because I every time I do, I get passed by cars that must be going close to 100 mph. You don’t see that as much in Virginia because if you do that in Virginia, you go to jail. Just ask Jason Werth. Maryland drivers are used to driving dangerously without any consequences – and they don’t change their driving behavior when they cross the line into DC.
  - spookiness
    
    I hate that stretch of 50, and east side of beltway too. I have been passed on the right in the shoulder many times. And the motorcycles doing wheelies, or swarms of bikes that come behind you from nowhere and blow past you doing 100+, splitting lanes, passing in shoulders, etc. Someday there will be a terrible bloodbath followed by a lot of told-you-so’s. You seem MD cops all over the place east of the Bay Bridge, but I’ve rarely seen them on any roads leading to DC on the west side.
    - K
      
      Oh sweet lord I forgot about the crazy motorcycle. The other weekend I was driving from DC to Ikea when I was swarmed by a few hundred motorcycles. They were being followed by a bunch of woman in SUVs who must have been with them because they were driving down the shoulder to keep up . When a few cop cars tried to pull them over all the motorcycles (hundreds of them) and the SUVs following them all turned around and started driving the wrong way down the highway. It was absolutely crazy.
- navyard
  
  Also, how would the editor help? He wasn’t even there.
Julie

Witnesses reported the car going 60 – 70 miles per hour; big relief knowing no pedestrians or children were killed.
- KY Ave
  
  Yes, we had a neighborhood block party on KY the day before — just feet from this.
V

As a Hill East resident, I’m not going to pretend that I don’t get annoyed when I come home from work on Saturday and there’s no where to park, and my street is filled with MD and VA license plates presumably there to walk to H street.

But isn’t it silly to mention Maryland drivers like its some mythical land far, far away? This area of DC has a lot of Maryland traffic because of its proximity to the borders. Doesn’t that make it seem kind of arbitrary? its basically an imaginary, arbitrary line that exists and BOOM. Everyone on the other side of it is a terrible driver. Lets just call it what it is – reckless, dangerous, and thoughtless driving. Period.
- Anon
  
  You must’ve missed the callous joke.
- stacksp
  
  This
  
  “its basically an imaginary, arbitrary line that exists”
  
  and this
  
  “Lets just call it what it is – reckless, dangerous, and thoughtless driving.”
  
  oh and H St is a popular weekend destination so people head there from all over to dine and party and ride back to the suburbs at the end of the night. Thats how some enjoy city living without actually living in the city
Ben

Speaking of crashes, aparently there was a pretty bad cycling accident on 11th and Euclid this AM. Bike was fully under the back wheel of a huge truck and the cyclist was taken away on a strecher. Don’t know any other details as I wasn’t there to witness it.
anon9

How do we know the driver didn’t have a medical emergency? No amount of traffic enforcement or not being from Maryland can prevent that. Perhaps crab cakes cause heart attacks.
OP

Original Poster here. I apologize for the choice of words that were used, I didn’t stay to see what the plates were. I was there with neighbors when the plates were turned over. I thought I was posting a fact, it just didn’t come across as that. I take comfort in knowing I’m not a horrible person and that I have said multiple prayers for the two that were pulled out and for my neighbor who pulled the woman out of the car. My thoughts are still with everyone involved and again it is a miracle no one else was injured.
- dunning-kruger
  
  You’re being totally disingenuous attempting to diminish your error claiming you were merely “posting a fact.” A fact you closed with as a dramatic reveal with an ellipses lead in… right. Timing matters and “just saying” or proposing loaded facts as “just a fact” almost always means “just saying for effect but shirking responsibly for the effect I knew this would have.”
  .
  It isn’t that huge of a deal had your OP been down here in the comments barely anyone would have batted an eye and obviously it doesn’t make you a horrible person; for me your “just saying” defense is much worse because it says a lot more about you.
  .
  As a DC native I don’t think anyone has a monopoly on bad driving. If PoPville was a blog focusing on Georgetown and Palisades you’d have a consensus that VA drivers are the worst. There are more MD drivers commuting through the neighborhoods where most PoPvillains live and among PoPville readers there is also confirmation bias to contend with.
  - Anonymous
    
    Spot on with your final paragraph. Absolutely correct. Though I’m still not sure why PoPvillains don’t ever seem to see all the DC drivers driving like a-holes.
  - navyard
    
    Wow. How does one manage to show “timing” in an internet post? Please share because I’m sure every wannabe comic in the world would want to know.
NH Ave Hiker

People are way too sensitive about a joke this morning. Mondays…
- Anon
  
  TRIGGER WARNING!
smk

Per a post on a local listserv (MOTH), police thought the driver was on drugs.
jaanku

Can we put aside the MD driver argument for a minute and focus on the fact that crashes like this seem to happen in this neighborhood on a weekly basis? DDOT has been contacted but seems to be either unwilling or unable to put in any sort of traffic calming measures. Moreover, this stretch of 17 st from Isherwood St to Potomac Ave is in a state of stalled street resurfacing. The roads are horrendous and no work has been done for at least 2 months.
potomacavese

We live nearby and the best that we were able to piece together is:

–There was someone double parked near the entrance to the church midblock to let off/pick up a passenger. —-The driver of the car that flipped went to pass that vehicle, clipped it and lost control, flipping and hitting 4-5 parked cars.

People (usually MD drivers) fly down that block of Kentucky, usually on the wrong side of the road because they’re not paying attention when they cross the intersection where 15th and Kentucky meet (Kentucky is one way for half a block).

I believe the cars hit at 17th and A may have been a different incident altogether. Cars are regularly hit on 17th st – between the construction, people parking like buttholes, and drivers (of all states) treating it like a highway, it is not a great place to leave a car.
- KY Ave
  
  The driver hit 5-6 cars on both sides of the street before he even got to the one that was double parked, passed the double parked one, hit more, then flipped. The double parked one, oddly enough didn’t look damaged; it just had one of the “hitter’s” tires under it. Yes, the tires came off. The car largely disintegrated.
Prince Of Petworth

Full MPD release added to the post at 12:30pm.
Annon MPD(2)

So what I find interesting that of the 51 comments on the thread is either about the wording used by the OP or what one of the posters heard or saw for this accident hit and run. But attached to this post is a report of a drive by shooting where three people were shot (all survived) and one of them was a 91 year old woman. Ummm? Why is the wording and the accident hit and run getting more attention from our posters?
- HaileUnlikely
  
  Unfortunately I suspect there is little interest in the neighborhood in question among people who regularly post here. There are a couple of people on here who post under the name “anon” who have indicated that they live in this general area, my best friend used to live one block from here and walked his dogs on this block every day , the mayor of our city used to live not more than a couple blocks from here, but on the whole, this isn’t a neighborhood people on this forum pay any attention to.
  - Annon MPD (2)
    
    While yeah, a lot of our posters don’t live there. It is still a neighborhood in our city that experienced terrible violence in the last 48 hours. Although most posters don’t live up there, they should care just as they would want people living in Lamont Riggs neighborhood to care about a shooting in DuPont or wherever they live. We (as residence of DC) can only get my bosses and their bosses to do something if we care about every shooting from Georgetown to Anacostia. All life is precious.
    - HaileUnlikely
      
      I agree with this, though it is self-evident that most here do not (hollow declarations to the contrary, including my own, notwithstanding). Violence east of the river typically doesn’t even get a mention on here unless it is right along the riverfront.
      - Annon MPD (2)
        
        +10000000 which makes me shake my head. I get the updates for most if not all confirmed shootings in the district. I’ll check Popville to help give info to residence when I can and all of the shootings on the other side of the river never make it on here. I’m sick and tired of seeing our youngsters getting shot and our elected officials don’t have answer. They will answer to the shootings that happen in DuPont with an arrest but outside of that nothing else. But we as a residence have to care about every shooting. Not just the ones where you and I pay $50 a plate for dinner.
        
        Also, since no one seems to care this is what I have been informed about the shooting in Lamont Riggs. The Lamont Riggs crew is beefing with another local crew in the area (unsure which one at this point) and more than likely there will be more violence forthcoming. Also, I was also informed by a good friend of mine in 4D that when the shooting happened the residence in the area came out and started to atgonize the 4D officers. Attempting to take people away from officers and trambled through crime scenes with no regard to the officers there trying to give medical attention to the shooting victims.
        
        We ALL need to care about a shooting no matter the neighborhood, social class of that neighborhood, or income of that neighborhood.
      - Anon
        
        Anon MPD – I agree with you that we need to raise the profile of ALL crime that happens in the district – that’s the only way we could get the necessary resources for dealing with the problem. Here’s a thought – what if MPD published its own “crime tracking” website to publish the sort of details that you mentioned above. I bet A LOT of people would be really interested. You could also create some sort of a reporting tool to collect tips, etc.
      - sarahperhaps
        
        AnnonMPD, thank you for that info. I’m a Riggs Park resident who lives two blocks away from the Oglethorpe shooting, and the fact that a drive-by occurred is terrifying. Though this neighborhood is not without its usual crime, drive-bys are definitely NOT the norm. This is very concerning for those of us who live here, and the lack of information surrounding the incident has been incredibly frustrating. I hope that somebody’s security camera caught the driver’s plates.

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