Pedestrian struck at intersection of M Street and Wisconsin Avenue
Posted by: Molly Redden in News, Vox Populi, tags: Accident, Crime, MPD
Update 2:37 p.m. March 31—The vehicle in this incident was a Volkswagen station wagon, Commander Matthew Klein of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Second District wrote in an e-mail to a community listserv. The case is still under investigation by the Major Crash Investigation Unit, and speeding does not seem to have contributed to the incident.
It is still unclear whether the driver or the pedestrian is at fault, and Klein did not give information about the pedestrian’s condition.
—
At about 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle at the intersection of M Streets and Wisconsin Avenue. The man was taken away in an ambulance for hospital care and it is unclear at this time what his condition is.
Iris Kim (COL ’12), the cover editor for the Voice, was an eyewitness to the incident. She said that as she was crossing M Street, she saw a vehicle driving north on Wisconsin Avenue strike an older man as he was crossing Wisconsin. The pedestrian flew several feet into the air. When he landed on the ground, he was not moving and had blood coming from his mouth. Later, however, Kim said that the crowd which had gathered around him was repeatedly asking him questions, although she was unsure if he answered.
When the Metropolitan Police Department arrived at the scene, Kim said that a white man in his fifties approached them and identified himself as the driver who had hit the pedestrian. Kim said that as she had the right of way crossing the street, she did not believe that the pedestrian was crossing legally.
Police at the scene would not release any more details about the accident. Vox has left a message with MPD’s communications department. At 10:37 p.m., the intersection of Wisconsin and M Street was still blocked off with officers present at the scene.
Based on information from an MPD officer at the scene, we originally reported on Twitter that a female was struck and killed in this incident. We apologize for the error.
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You need an action verb in the headline, Molly
A “vehicle” cannot drive itself and has no volition–the driver struck the pedestrian.
Thanks for pointing that out, Jacob.
sounds like a nasty accident. I hope he’s ok
[...] male individual was taken to an area hospital. According to an eyewitness account reported by Vox Populi, the incident occurred around 9:30 p.m. [...]
“Based on information from an MPD officer at the scene, we originally reported on Twitter that a female was struck and killed in this incident. We apologize for the error.”
Wow, how embarrassing. Way to spread false rumors around with your typically horrible fact-checking. If you had an eyewitness at the scene, who saw blood coming from the guy’s mouth, how could you possibly report that it was a woman?!?!?! Furthermore, you should know that police officers are not official MPD spokespersons, and this is why. And I bet your “reporter” didn’t even identify themselves as press, which is probably why the cop talked to you in the first place.
Why didn’t the reporter call GERMS?
Typical, I spoke to the MPD officer, to whom I did identify myself as a reporter, before I spoke to Iris. We often use personnel who respond to incidents as sources when they will speak to us. As they are tasked with responding professionally to a safety situation, they are typically the best sources for information about the incidents. Unfortunately, in this case, she wasn’t.
Emily, I did not call GERMS because at that point, the accident had occurred over a half hour ago. Iris did call 911.
Are you serious? Do you actually care that much about the victim’s gender? Does that somehow change the significance of the event for you? I find it hard to believe you could be so outraged about such a minor error. An error which, by the way, was quickly corrected – through what seems to have been fact-checking! Please don’t pretend to be so naive that making an inconsequential factual error while reporting a breaking news event quickly is so egregious these days.
I’m just going to assume you’re from the hoya and are misplacing your anger over having missed the story entirely. Chill out, and lay off the hyperbole.
Typical, these are the kinds of minor errors you have to expect from breaking news reporting. If you only want information after everyone has already heard the story, I suggest you read the Hoya.
@Emily
Trust me, everyone at the scene was attempting to call 911.
@Typical
It wasn’t my initial reaction to contact Molly about what to post on the Twitter…I hope that wouldn’t be yours either.
Getting gender wrong is a minor error. Stating that someone is dead when they are not is a lot less forgivable.
[...] Pearson, 59, the pedestrian struck in the car accident at Wisconsin Avenue and M Street on March 30, died as a result of his injuries on April 3. Pearson, who has no fixed address, was [...]