Fairfax Victim's Family Waits for Answers

Witnesses said it was not. Harriet Jackson said she had just pulled on to Route 1 in the Mount Vernon area with her two teenage grandsons, just south of the Boswell Avenue intersection. A police car roared past "really fast," she said. "Didn't have a siren on. Had the lights on, but no siren."

Jackson said she turned to her grandsons and said: "That police car's going really fast. It's going to hit somebody in that intersection."

McIntosh was driving her 2003 Toyota Corolla, making a left turn from the west side of Boswell Avenue onto Route 1 with a green arrow. McIntosh's relatives said they believe the officer struck the Corolla twice on the passenger side, ripping both passenger doors off the car and ejecting McIntosh. Police would not say whether they think McIntosh was wearing her seat belt.

The two cars spun to the curb. Sleet that would turn the Washington region into a sheet of ice the night of the presidential primary had begun falling. Jackson said she had a clear view of the crash and helped comfort McIntosh, who was lying on the roadway, still wearing an "I Voted" sticker.

"To us, it appeared it was an avoidable accident," Jackson said. "If the police officer had put on her brakes or used her siren, perhaps it would have been a different scenario."

McIntosh grew up on Oakbrooke Avenue, just off Fort Hunt Road, and was an All-District shooting guard and softball catcher at West Potomac High. She played, coached, managed buildings and was the first female referee in the Fort Hunt youth leagues. She had held various receptionist jobs in recent years until the teacher's assistant position opened at Clermont, where she started in the fall.

"That was her dream job," said her mother, Cynthia Colasanto. "She had a special connection with children."

At McIntosh's funeral, the Clermont teacher she assisted, Bobbi Benjamin, read messages from students. "You are so funny to me," one 5-year-old said. "I liked it when you tickled me. It made me laugh. I will miss you Ms. Mac. I love you Ms. Mac."

Staff writer Preston Williams contributed to this report.