The incident happened right outside my office, and we received word from our CEO this morning that the woman was a 35-year employee at our organization. We have been informed of her identity, and I think it will be made totally public soon.

by Cycist Jim on Apr 13, 2010 8:54 am  

I want my country back.

by Eric F. on Apr 13, 2010 9:02 am  

al-qaeda has won -- seriously.

by RFZFf on Apr 13, 2010 9:11 am  

This would never happen in Canada. Maybe it's time to let the terrorists win and Canada to rescue us like any good neighbor would.

by Jason on Apr 13, 2010 9:16 am  

I wonder if some dubious State Dept dude is gonna show up at the funeral with an MPD clown citing the lady's corps with some cycling infraction on VA Ave & 21st NW. You have to be negligent not seeing a motorcade, not?

by Jasper on Apr 13, 2010 9:23 am  

The military is extremely responsible when it comes to incidents like this. If the driver of the truck was to blame, I have no doubt that he/she will suffer the consequences ... which in the case of military personnel tend to be far more severe than for similar situations involving civilians. BUT at this point, we don't know who was at fault. To assume the cyclist was blameless and the driver of the truck to blame, is gravely unjust. Let's let the facts come out and justice work its way rather than giving into 'mob mentality'.

by Lance on Apr 13, 2010 9:32 am  

a man in a wheelchair was struck and killed last week on eastern avenue in NE DC also. bad week to be on the roads and not ensconced in a few tons of steel and glass.

by IMGoph on Apr 13, 2010 9:32 am  

tragic and frustrating. Please don't let this story fall by the wayside. This needs follow up and more attention. I'd like to hear our president talk about this. Yes, the nuclear summit is important, but wasn't the whole point to protect lives?

by dano on Apr 13, 2010 9:32 am  

Terribly saddening and angering. That is my bike route home, and I'm afraid the "collision" could happen on any day, if not with military vehicles.

by Lisa on Apr 13, 2010 9:34 am  

I don't at all doubt that the military is extremely responsible in these situations. I also don't think anything in this post places the blame on anyone or accuses the military of not taking the accident seriously. The post simply points out how tragic someone getting killed is, how the media is prone to assume and use language that implies that the bicyclist is at fault and how intrusive this event has been for the people who live and work here.

But -- sorry, I have to be a bit snarky -- I guess it's all worth it if it means that the Prime Minister of Luxembourg gets to his next appointment on time and without any attempts on his life......

by rg on Apr 13, 2010 9:53 am  

If the Good Lord had intended for summits like this to be in major cities, He would not have given us luxury ski resorts. Why the f*ck isn't this summit being held in some place like Vail, or Bretton Woods ?

by Omri on Apr 13, 2010 10:01 am  

Re the man struck in georgetown - from what I've overheard walking to/from work in the area - he was homeless and had some prior health issues. The homeless community in georgetown seemed pretty upset about it - sounded like he was in pretty bad shape w/a gash on the back of his head.

by ant on Apr 13, 2010 10:14 am  

Bretton Woods is in Potomac MD, certainly not a ski resort

by SJE on Apr 13, 2010 10:23 am  

There's actually another Bretton Woods in New Hampshire which is a ski resort.

by David Alpert on Apr 13, 2010 10:31 am  

Email from MPD:

Traffic Fatality at 12th Street and New York Avenue, NW

(Washington, DC) – Investigators assigned to the Metropolitan Police Department’s Major Crash Investigations Unit are investigating the circumstances of a vehicular crash that resulted in a fatality. The crash occurred at the intersection of 12th Street and New York Avenue, NW on April 12, 2010.

Shortly after 6:00 pm on Monday, April 12, 2010, the operator of a D.C. National Guard truck assigned on a motorcade security route and a cyclist collided at the intersection of 12th Street and New York Avenue, NW. Police and DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department personnel then responded to the scene. Emergency medical personnel could find no life signs.

The bicyclist who has been identified as 68-year-old Constance Holden of Northwest Washington was later officially pronounced dead on the scene by a representative from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the District of Columbia. The body was then transported to the Medical Examiner’s Office.

The operator of the military vehicle was not physically injured. Although he was assigned to a motorcade security route for dignitaries attending the Nuclear Security Summit, he was not actively part of a motorcade at the time of the collision.

###

Jacob Kishter
Commander
Metropolitan Police Dept.
Third District
1620 V St, NW
Washington, DC 20009
Office: 202-671-6600
Cell: 202-528-8612

by JTS on Apr 13, 2010 10:56 am  

Putting a face and identity to the name:

http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2010/0413in_memoriam.shtml

by Greenbelt Gal on Apr 13, 2010 11:17 am  

What a tragic and needless death. So sad.

Could anyone who saw it happen share details on what exactly happened? What kind of truck--a regular semi, a Humvee, some funky armored personnel carrier kinda thing? And was she stationary and the military driver came around the corner too fast and hit her? Or did the truck driver change lanes into her lane? What happened?

by JB on Apr 13, 2010 12:22 pm  

Bretton Woods is in Potomac MD, certainly not a ski resort.

Actually, I have it on good authority that the Potomac Bretton Woods is not *the* Bretton Woods. And by "good authority" I mean an ex- Belgian pro-cyclist who was nice enough to kick my ass all over the roads of the MoCo Ag preserve a few weeks back.

Take that, Wikipedia!

by oboe on Apr 13, 2010 12:48 pm  

This is the truck and collision scene:

http://media.bonnint.net/wtop/18/1810/181004.jpg

by Timothy on Apr 13, 2010 12:58 pm  

Looks like an LMTV: http://www.military-today.com/trucks/m1078_lmtv.htm

by ontarioroader on Apr 13, 2010 1:14 pm  

Bretton Woods, as commonly used as a term for the monetary management system negotiated at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference of 1944, is named after the New Hampshire ski resort.

The significance here is that the resort was also host to a large conference with many heads of state.

by Alex B. on Apr 13, 2010 1:24 pm  

I'm hoping quoting Hatchard's snarky tweets in the main body of postings is not going to become a regular thing. Fine for comments but not really for serious posting content.

by Jason on Apr 13, 2010 2:07 pm  

Horrible story, and a full investigation is needed. I see a court martial in the future for the driver of the truck.

By the way, the picture you posted is a bit dishonest. That is a picture of an FBI SUV from the innauguration.

It is easy enough to find a picture of a 5 ton military truck on the web, plus, I have read nothing saying that the FBI, which isn't even in charge of security for this event, was in any way involved in the crash.

by urbaner on Apr 13, 2010 3:18 pm  

This woman died on the same route I ride my bike every day. It was several blocks away from the announced street closures. I encountered a larger than expected security cordon when I tried to get to work myself and I have to say that my presumption is with the cyclist. My experience is that those involved in "security" tend to go where they want when they want without regard to rules or boundaries. The burden of safety should be on the entity that reroutes traffic patterns, erects barriers, stops traffic at green lights, points vehicles in the opposite direction of the lane flow, etc.

We should get more information as soon as possible so we can get to the bottom of this.

by Ward 1 Guy on Apr 13, 2010 3:34 pm  

FYI, the picture has been updated to show the type of truck that hit the cyclist.

I hope we get a full investigation into this, including:

-training of the truck driver (ie, was he trained to drive this truck in an urban environment)

-SOP for moving one of these trucks, does it require a spotter? If so, was a spotter used? What about back up warning sounds?

-The communications system in place. Could MPD officers, or other police on the ground directly communicate with the truck driver (I would bet not).

-Actions immediately after the incident. Was it "help the victim" or Cover Your you-know what.

by urbaner on Apr 13, 2010 5:15 pm  

The security there was stupid. They understandably stop all crossings when a motorcade is passing, but oddly they still held everyone back afterward. The crowd bunched up, and the newcomers, not sure what was up tried to go around and get stopped by the secret service and spread out. The process repeated until there was a sizeable crowd trapped behind barriers and piling amongst the cars and heavy trucks in the street. One cyclist almost made it all the way across NY/I St on 11th without being noticed before the last secret service agent in his way turned him around to go back to where he started - across the very street they were securing. People were confused, irate, and it was getting VERY crowded on those corners.

And not a single vehicle passed - no audible sirens - nothing. Just four street corners continuing to fill with people. I shudder if something *had* happened right then that sent everyone into a panic. The longer you let that situation build, the more your "security" itself becomes a risk. Eventually someone just walked and the mob followed.

Overheard from one of the officers: "I can't stop them!"

I looked westward down NY Ave and saw the scene repeated at every intersection to 15th. I'm not surprised there was an incident - there was no coordination to timing with motorcades, and no one showed any concern about the crowding.

by FN on Apr 13, 2010 5:15 pm  

Thanks for those correcting me re Bretton Woods.

Regarding the crowd control: what do you expect when you put a conference in the middle of a major city? The organizers should have been more "organized." OTOH, the fact that there are a lot of people etc underscores the mess that can be created by terrorist WMDs better than meeting in some isolated ski resort.

by SJE on Apr 13, 2010 9:14 pm  

At 7:30 pm that same night, three MPD motorcyclists came roaring through the center sidewalk of Logan circle. The roads around the circle weren't congested or anything, the cops weren't running lights and sirens, they used the sidewalk "because they could." Anyway, they unexpectedly came up behind me on the sidewalk, and almost forced another cyclist to run into me.

Another example of our hyper-empowered "security" personnel kind of losing sight of their larger mission, and instead making the job primarily about THEIR safety, convenience, and perhaps even entertainment.

by Wayne B. on Apr 13, 2010 9:31 pm  

GET OUT OF OUR TOWN

What the hell is this massive truck doing in a metropolitan area in a time of PEACE??? It's exactly as other commenters have said: Al Qaeda has won. The security paranoia/obsession in this country is absurd and today... deadly.

I also biked through this BULLSHIT today. I saw the CROWDS unable to cross open boulevards. I was seriously scared of getting hit with all the trucks/motorcycles/SUVs speeding around. Thank GOD my family doesn't have to hear the news one of my neighbor's family now knows.

These security organizations (MPD, SS, the fucking ARMY, random black SUVs) are a threat to the residents of this city and it's an outrage. I would have expected more from Obama. I thought he "got" cities--what happened to that? Hosting the 'summit' here is absurd. It's dangerous as hell, inconsiderate and the federal government is losing money hand-over-fist during these few days. (It's basically a couple more of the snow days from earlier in the year where the government lost hundreds of millions of dollars a day as everyone "worked" from home.)

God I'm pissed and I was one of the lucky ones...

by D C on Apr 13, 2010 11:27 pm  

Where can we go for regular updates on the so-called investigation?

by Ward 1 Guy on Apr 14, 2010 8:56 am  

We'll try to keep on top of it. However, investigations usually involve absolutely no information coming out for months, and then a final report; we'll try to at least get the findings at that time.

by David Alpert on Apr 14, 2010 8:57 am  

At this point, we don't know who was at fault.

On an intellectual level, I get what you mean. On an emotional level, all I am feeling right now is YANKEE GO HOME.

by tom veil on Apr 14, 2010 9:53 am  

This a tragic and again avoidable death. The security agencies need to stop making excuses and start making changes. There is no reason a civilian should have died in our nations capital. Let's not let this tragedy go unnoticed.

by Paul the safety guy on Apr 15, 2010 10:53 am