Woman Injures 35 Driving Through DC Street Festival

WASHINGTON (AP) – A woman plowed her car through a crowded street festival Saturday night, injuring about 35 people, including two police officers who drove their motor scooters into her path attempting to stop her, authorities said.Police said seven of the victims, including two children under age 3, suffered major injuries.Officers caught up with the driver, whom they identified as Tonya Bell, 30, of Oxon Hill, Md., near the site of the festival in the city’s Anacostia neighborhood. She was arrested and charged with aggravated assault while armed. The “armed” part of the charge refers to the car. District of Columbia Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said additional charges are pending.Police said Ms. Bell had a 7-year-old child in the car with her.They were conducting blood tests that would show whether alcohol or drugs were involved.Mo<"We're still trying to piece together exactly just what happened that led up to this," Chief Lanier said at the scene.Alan Etter, a spokesman for the District of Columbia fire department, said authorities believe Ms. Bell was going about 70 mph when she came through the festival.The scene cordoned off Saturday night extended for several blocks, reflecting the vehicle’s long path of destruction. Litter and debris from festival food stands were scattered in the street.Witnesses described an extended period of mayhem in which the driver started off slowly through some closed streets and finally hit the accelerator on the avenue running through the heart of Unifest, an annual event sponsored by a church. The car hit a stage where people were dancing, witnesses said.Ryland Anderson, 19, and Philemon Walker, 24, told The Washington Post they were about to cross the street as the festival was winding down when the car sped past. They described strollers being flung into the air and said they saw the body of a man apparently lodged in the station wagon’s wheel well.“She was driving like ‘if you’re in my way, you’re going to get hit,'” Mr. Walker said.David White, president of the Chicago Shannon Civic Association, said Ms. Bell grew up in the neighborhood and is well known. Mr. White said he and other residents saw her in the area on Saturday morning, driving erratically and clipping parked cars. He said he confronted her, but she acted like she didn’t know him.“I said, ‘Tonya, what are you doing?’ She was sweating like a race horse. We tried our best to stop her. … She was just in a deranged state of mind,” Mr. White said.

Woman Injures 35 Driving Through DC Street Festival

Woman Injures 35 Driving Through DC Street Festival

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