Late Thursday night, two men in a white pickup truck struck to Washington, D.C. police officers and a District Department of Transportation employee near the White House before fleeing the scene.
The incident happened in the Adams Morgan neighborhood, and the two suspects are a 23-year old man named Dwayne Nichols Taylor and a 22-year old named Brandon Figures-Mormon.
The individuals were eventually captured by police after they crashed their pickup truck into an unoccupied dump truck.
From Fox 5 DC:
Taylor faces charges of Possession of an Unregistered Firearm/Unlawful Possession of a Firearm or Destructive Device. Figures-Mormon faces charges of Assault with Intent to Kill and Possession Of Unregistered Firearm/Unlawful Possession of a Firearm or Destructive Device.
D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham says that a white pickup truck traveling was speeding around 9 p.m. Thursday when it struck the two on-duty bicycle patrol officers and the traffic control aide on 18th Street in the Northwest.
One of the officers was rushed into surgery Thursday night in very critical condition, according to Newsham. By Friday morning, the officer was out of surgery and was in critical but stable condition. The other officer is in fair condition, Newsham said. The worker is believed to have non-life-threatening injuries.
After striking the officers, the truck proceeded through the intersection and ended up hitting a large unoccupied dump truck parked on the roadway just past Columbia Road.
Multiple individuals posted photos and video of the incident on Twitter:
@AdMoBID @ABCNetwork @fox5dc @CBSDC video of suspect being put in handcuffs #thisismyvideo #pray for cops and victims pic.twitter.com/j9SF1YDLxt
— Stuart H Johnson (@justSTUit_) June 9, 2017
Adams Morgan is watching 18th Street following hit-and-run. pic.twitter.com/PbHmxMTEDS
— Megan Trimble (@MeganRegina) June 9, 2017
2 police + 1 Metro worker ran over in Adams Morgan pic.twitter.com/iLkA7cwkmp
— #NoMoreFavorss👋🏽 (@AzianWitSwag) June 9, 2017
Happened to pull my bike over a few seconds before I saw the truck speeding from behind pic.twitter.com/N7HpK7Ptf8
— Payton Chung 🗽 (@paytonchung) June 9, 2017
As of this writing it is unknown what the motive of this crime was, but given that police officers were involved, authorities have not completely ruled out terrorism as a possibility. Given recent attacks against police, most notably at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, police everywhere are being targeted for violence.
Thankfully, authorities arrested the two suspects, and will likely receive very stiff punishments if convicted.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the two police officers and D.C. worker and we hope for a speedy recovery!