Car Slams Into D.C. Festival, Injuring 35

A vehicle hurtled through a crowded street festival in the District last night, knocking people down, throwing some in the air and pinning others beneath its wheels, according to accounts from police and witnesses. Authorities said 35 people were taken to hospitals, seven with severe injuries.

The chaotic scene occurred about 8 p.m. at Unifest, an annual street festival sponsored by a prominent Anacostia church. Witness accounts indicated that a gray station wagon, with a woman driving, plowed through swarms of festival-goers on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and W Street SE, among other thoroughfares.

Police said a 30-year-old Oxon Hill woman was taken into custody near the scene. They identified her as Tonya Bell. They said a child who was 7 or 8 was in her vehicle.

It was not immediately clear what might have prompted the incident.

Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said the station wagon might have been the same vehicle that struck a police car some distance away about 25 minutes earlier. She said as far as she knew, police did not pursue the vehicle after that incident.

After the vehicle began knocking down members of the crowd, police at the scene jumped on their scooters and bicycles and tried to stop the car, Lanier said.

She said one or two officers were struck when they pulled their scooters in front of the station wagon.

It was not clear what finally caused the station wagon to halt. Lanier said a variety of accounts had been put forward; some suggested that members of the crowd had played a part. One man told reporters that he had dived through the vehicle's window in an effort to bring it to a halt.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), who was at the scene with Lanier, expressed sympathy to the victims and their families. He said the city would "do everything we can to make sure you get the best care."

A fire official said that of the 35 people taken to hospitals, seven had "major injuries" and two had what he called moderate injuries. Two of the injured were children younger than 3.

Authorities could not recall a pedestrian incident with a larger number of injuries. The number of injured was greater than in any vehicular incident in years.

Long after the car had been brought to a halt, the frenzy of the incident at the festival stood out in the minds of those who witnessed even a part of it.