Police Mourn Officer In Good Friday Accident

'Role Model' for Colleagues Is Saluted

The flag at the Mount Pleasant police substation in Northwest Washington was at half-staff yesterday, as D.C. police mourned the passing of one of their own.

Officer Wayne Pitt, a four-year member, had been hospitalized in serious condition after a traffic accident during a Good Friday procession. Yesterday morning, after life support was removed, he died with his family by his side.

Pitt, 57, had been a police officer since 1986, starting his career in Durham, N.C. He was an investigator focusing on youth crime when he left that force five years ago to join the D.C. police. He was assigned to the 3rd District, where he was one of two officers in the Mount Pleasant area assigned to carry cellphones to be reachable by the public.

"He was an excellent officer with a long and distinguished career," said D.C. police Inspector Patrick Burke. "With his age and experience, working the evening shift, he was a good role model for the younger officers. He will be missed."

At the tiny substation, in the 700 block of Park Place NW, three photographs of Pitt smiling were attached to a bulletin board in the lobby. He was the second officer from the substation to die during a traffic incident in just over a year.

In March 2006, Sgt. Gerard W. Burke Jr. was trailing a stolen police car on his day off as he headed to catch a plane. As he spoke with dispatchers, Burke, 39, ruptured a major blood vessel, crashed his SUV and later died.

Pitt's accident took place shortly after 9 p.m. Friday at Mount Pleasant and Kilbourne streets NW, and police are still trying to piece together exactly what happened. He was blocking traffic for a procession of worshipers when he realized that a motor scooter was about to cut into the path of the procession, police said. Pitt got out of his cruiser to stop the scooter operator but somehow had left his car in gear.

Police believe that Pitt rushed back to his car to try to put it in park but never got fully inside the vehicle.

The police car continued forward, striking the scooter, a parked car and finally a tree. He was rushed to surgery at Washington Hospital Center for internal injuries. No one else was injured.

Those who worked with him remembered Pitt fondly yesterday.

"He was a really, really good guy," Officer Israel James said. "He would never say no to a citizen or a fellow officer if it was something he could do for them."

Pitt's wife, contacted by phone yesterday, said she was too distraught to talk.

Just last week, Pitt had pinned a badge on his stepson, now a rookie in the Durham Police Department, said D.C. police Cmdr. Larry McCoy, who heads the 3rd District. Pitt also is survived by an 18-year-old daughter from a previous marriage who attends college in North Carolina, McCoy said.

Cammie Michael, a public information officer for Durham police, said officers there were upset to learn of Pitt's death. "He was a very conscientious investigator who took his job seriously," Michael said. "He was a really nice man."

A vigil in his memory will take place Friday at 8 p.m., at Mount Pleasant and Kilbourne.