D.C. officials are trying to figure out who’s to blame for keeping a repeat DUI offender licensed and behind the wheel after the driver was charged in the deaths of three people tied to a March crash.
Nakita Walker, 43, shouldn’t have had a license in March, according to D.C.’s Deputy Mayor for Operations and Infrastructure Lucinda Babers, who used to lead the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles. She suggested D.C. Superior Court was to blame, an accusation the court system quickly rebutted.
During a D.C. Council roundtable on Tuesday, Babers testified that she learned from press reports that Walker had three DUIs on record. “D.C. DMV had notification of none of them,” she claimed.
Babers, who, as deputy mayor, oversees the DMV, said those convictions should have been sent to the DMV by D.C. Superior Court so they could suspend or revoke Walker’s license.
“When I was at DMV, we worked very closely with D.C. Superior Court to ensure that they sent us the convictions in a timely manner because we were not getting them,” Babers said. “So now D.C. DMV will go back out to D.C. Superior Court to say, ‘What has happened? We did not get these notifications. Has the system broken down again?’”
Council member Charles Allen said he sent a letter to D.C. Superior Court Chief Judge Anita Josey-Herring asking for details on their process for notifying the D.C. DMV of convictions.
Concerning Walker’s case, officials want to know if and when the DMV was notified of her convictions. Allen’s letter requests responses to these questions by June 7.
However, in a statement to WTOP, D.C. Superior Court spokesman Doug Buchanan said information on Walker’s case was “successfully shared” to the DMV’s computer system. He added that the court provides “daily data feeds” to the DMV and informs the department on the cases connected to defendants “whose court outcomes may impact their driving privileges.”
“As far as we have been able to uncover, there are no computer issues with the DC Courts data and computer systems connected to the transmission of information regularly sent to the DC Department of Motor Vehicles,” Buchanan said in a statement.
“The DC Courts remain ready and eager to meet with City representatives so that we are all on the same page – and able to work together in our effort to protect and ensure the safety of everyone we each serve.”
Walker has been charged with three counts of second degree murder in connection with the March 15 crash, in which her SUV crashed head on into a car on Rock Creek Parkway, resulting in the deaths of all three people inside the Accord.
After the arrest, officials said Walker’s blood alcohol level was above the legal limit.
She has three previous DUI convictions in D.C. and two in Northern Virginia. Walker was ordered held without bond on Tuesday until her June 6 court hearing.
