“Dear PoPville,
I was among several individuals who witnessed a hit-and-run property incident at 17th & S NW earlier today (Friday) and had a very disappointing interaction with the MPD.
Around 2:45pm, a black vehicle in motion collided with a parked car on 17th St NW, causing a loud crunching noise that attracted the attention of many people nearby. At least 4-5 people witnessed the collision itself or its direct aftermath. The speed, sound, and blatant nature of someone smashing into a stationary object seemed to suggest that the driver might be impaired or otherwise distracted.
The impact caused significant damage to the parked car. The driver, after a brief pause, decided to drive away from the scene down an adjacent alley.
Several of us onlookers gathered to discuss what had just happened. At least one had written down the license plate number. Another started writing a note to leave on the damaged car for the owner.
Within a mere minute or two of the incident, an MPD cruiser passed by on S Street with two officers inside. I thought, “What luck!” I waved it down to stop and went to talk to the officers to explain what had happened.
I was shocked by the response.
What the officer said was approximately, “There is not much we can do without a report from the owner.”
The rest of the conversation went something like this:
Me: “But we have a group of us here who saw what happened and wrote down the license plate number.”
MPD: “Really, the owner needs to call to file a report about the damage before we can do anything.”
Me, exasperated since the owner was obviously not present: “The car can’t be far away! Can I give you the license plate number so you can look for the car?”
The officer (seemingly reluctantly, but I cannot read his mind) said he would take the license plate number and then pulled over to talk to the group.
Whlle we were talking, another driver stopped next to us and said he had also gotten the license plate number. And that he just saw the car drive by on an adjacent street!
I’m not sure exactly what happened after that, but they did not appear to immediately go search or put out an alert. Perhaps, giving them the benefit of the doubt, they did so at their own pace. Later, I saw the officer continuing to speak to one of the witnesses, and still later in the afternoon I saw the officer talking to a man who appeared to be the owner of the car.
To me, it is a basic function of government to pursue criminals who 1) destroy property, 2) potentially pose a harm to others, and 3) intentionally flee the scene of the damage they have caused. My strong opinion is that a properly trained police officer should be empowered and motivated to spring into action to address a serious crime that has occurred moments ago.
My final shock was when the other witnesses (who live nearby) told me of similar incidents of driving cars smashing into parked cars in the neighborhood. One woman said that in a recent incident, the car hit the parked car with such force that the parked car itself hit additional parked cars.
As DC residents and voters, what kind of sad state of collective tolerance of crime have we allowed ourselves to get into?”