Driver Used Crack Before Festival Crash, D.C. Police Say

Bell grew up near the site of this weekend's incident, and several people said they knew her from the streets. Michelle Tillman, 41, said she and Bell were in the same drug rehabilitation program three years ago. "When they said it was Tonya Bell," Tillman said, "it didn't surprise me, because she's got issues."

A 7-year-old who was in the vehicle with Bell on Saturday was uninjured and is being cared for by the city's child protective services agency.

Police are trying to trace Bell's activities in the hours before the crash. The first signs of trouble came at 7:15 p.m., more than a mile away, when Bell rear-ended an unmarked police car working a robbery detail at Chesapeake Street and Southern Avenue, police said. The officers gave chase but broke it off a short time later because they did not have a serious enough charge to continue the pursuit, police said yesterday.

About 20 minutes later, the vehicle was spotted near Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Good Hope Road, on the edge of the festival.

Marilyn Wyche, a volunteer emergency medical technician, said a rapper had just finished performing on one of the stages, in the D.C. Lottery's parking lot on Martin Luther King Avenue, bringing the festival to a close for the day. "They had just said 'Thanks for coming, thanks for no violence, see you tomorrow,' " Wyche said.

People started to clear out. Suddenly, Wyche said, she saw a Volvo station wagon moving behind the stage. It hit a table holding massive speakers, causing them to tremble. Then she saw the car cross the parking lot and turn left onto W Street, picking up speed. A man was struck and flew into the air; he crashed down onto the windshield and rolled off the vehicle to the ground. Wyche ran out to help him as the car continued to scream up the hill.

Watching from her porch on W Street, Linda Greene saw the station wagon going down her street -- not at a great rate of speed, she said -- with its tires flattened and windows busted, trailed by police officers on bicycles and motorcycles. She said she saw the driver "with her head thrown back, laughing."

After making two left turns, police said, Bell returned to Martin Luther King, where Wyche was shocked to see the vehicle barreling down on her.

"I was in the middle of the intersection, down on my knees taking care of my patient," Wyche said. "I looked up and saw her car coming right to me and my patient. My patient ran to the corner to get away, and that shocked me. When he ran, I ran behind him."

Juanitra Fleming and her family were near Maple View Place and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue when "we saw this car coming toward us with a whole bunch of people on it, and they were all falling off it. I could not believe my eyes." She said a girl who appeared to be about 6 or 7 was among those hit and was screaming, "Help me! Help me!"

Fleming, who is pregnant, said her husband, Kevin, shoved their 2-year-old's stroller out of the way. She said he reached into the station wagon's open front passenger window and put the vehicle into park.

Although police officials credited the public for helping, Lanier said that two officers risked their lives by throwing scooters into Bell's path and that this is what ultimately stopped the station wagon.

By then, the injured could be found for blocks. There were three areas where significant multiple injuries had occurred: the intersection of W Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue; a block and a half away at W and 13th streets; and at Maple View and King.

At a special service yesterday at Union Temple Baptist Church, which sponsors Unifest, attendees said they were shocked and numb. A second day of the festival was canceled. Three mental health counselors were on hand in case anyone wanted to talk.

"Whatever happened yesterday, the car didn't drop out of the sky," said the Rev. Willie F. Wilson, who co-pastors the church with his wife, Mary. "It ended here, but it didn't start here. To have little children and adults, to see the horror of people getting run over, it was an alarming event for everyone."

Staff writers Keith L. Alexander, Henri E. Cauvin, Susan Levine, Brigid Schulte, Steve Vogel and Clarence Williams and staff researcher Karl Evanzz contributed to this report.