Suspect And Police Cruiser Collide In Fatal DC Car Accident

Two men have been killed and one is in critical condition after a shooting and police chase resulted in a DC car accident early Sunday morning.

On January 29, DC police were responding to several 911 calls reporting gunshots in the 700 block of Otis Place Northwest when they were flagged down at Georgia Avenue and New Hampshire Avenue Northwest around 3:00 a.m. An unidentified male told officers that someone driving a burgundy Plymouth minivan with Virginia tags had fired shots at him.

At the same time, two more officers spotted the minivan in the 300 block of Upshur Street Northwest. The van, which they recognized from the description on a police broadcast, was speeding and ignoring stop signs. The officers pursued the van and called for backup, but the van’s driver lost control, striking a tree before colliding with a police cruiser on Taylor Street Northeast, near Hawaii Avenue—the same cruiser that had been flagged down earlier.

Due to its speed, the van flipped and landed on the hood of the police vehicle and all three passengers were ejected from the van on impact. One adult male and a young male, both unidentified, died of their injuries. The third passenger, also male, was taken to a nearby hospital by ambulance and remains in critical condition.

The two officers in the crash also sustained injuries, but they were non-life-threatening, and both officers have since been released from the hospital.

Authorities from the Metropolitan Police Department have collected evidence from the scene that confirms the van was involved in a shooting, but police have been unable to locate the man who accused the suspects of shooting at him.