A D.C. man is facing several charges, including murder, after a high-speed crash Wednesday that led to the death of a pedestrian and a multivehicle collision in Northwest D.C.
Court documents state Santana Matthews, 20, attempted to speed through a yellow light at the intersection of 16th and L streets NW around 3:50 p.m. Wednesday, when he hit a gold Toyota Corolla, swerved and hit a man who was crossing the street.
The pedestrian — identified as 26-year-old Aaron Marckell Williams, of Southeast D.C. — went airborne, according to court documents. Despite life-saving measures by D.C. Fire and EMS, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Matthews struck a second Jeep and another Toyota before getting out of the passenger side of his Chevrolet Malibu and attempting to flee the scene by running down the sidewalk on 16th Street.
Court records state Matthews threw off his coat and dropped a “quart size freezer bag, which appeared to contain (a) green weed like substance.”
Matthews was later apprehended by police officers and taken back to the scene of the crash. He was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Two other people in the crash were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
Officials later discovered the Chevrolet Malibu belonged to Matthews’ aunt, and that he was operating the vehicle without a license.
D.C. police said in a release that Matthews had fled an earlier traffic stop before the collision and was being followed by the subsequent responding officers when the second incident occurred. Both D.C. police officers involved in the initial traffic stop have since been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by the department’s internal affairs bureau.
Matthews is charged with second-degree murder while armed with a vehicle and fleeing from law enforcement, among other charges. He is being held without bond and is set to appear in court on Jan. 27.
