Three people were found dead after a vehicle plunged into the Anacostia River on Thursday night near the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, according to the D.C. police and fire departments.
A statement released Friday night by the police did not say why the car went into the water. The site is on the opposite side of the river from Nationals Park. Police went to the site of the incident after receiving witness reports.
The vehicle was operated by Artareihk Knight, 45, of Clinton, Md., the police said. One of the passengers was identified by police as Tim Juan Mundell, 46, of Southeast Washington. The identity of the other passenger was withheld pending notification of relatives, the police said.
Water search below S. Capitol St Bridge. Witnesses report seeing vehicle go into water. Track marks located leading to water. Search by land, water & air in progress utilizing Fireboats, @uscoastguard, @DCPoliceDept harbor & @usparkpolicepio Eagle helicopter. #DCsBravest pic.twitter.com/7AeRVO2kC0
— DC Fire and EMS (@dcfireems) April 21, 2023
It was not clear Friday night exactly where each of the occupants was found.
On Friday morning a police spokeswoman had said that the bodies of a man and a woman were found in the water outside the vehicle and that a third body was found in the car.
D.C. fire and police crews were assisted by members of the U.S. Park Police and the U.S. Coast Guard. The D.C. police department, which handles death investigations in the District, said it is investigating how the vehicle went into the water.
In 2021, workers completed a new 1,445-foot-long bridge with soaring arches about a mile south of the U.S. Capitol to replace a bridge that had been built in the 1950s. The bridge is regarded as a crucial link connecting neighborhoods on both sides of the river.
On Friday, Dave Statter, a public safety advocate and former journalist who tracks errors in emergency dispatches in the District, tweeted that rescue crews were initially sent to the 11th Street Bridge, a little less than a mile away. Statter, who was listening to fire radio communications, said the mix-up delayed by about 15 minutes the response to the correct bridge.
A statement from the Office of Unified Communications, which takes 911 calls and dispatches police and fire to calls, said that “based on information provided by the caller and information presented by location determining technology, we were unable to immediately pinpoint the exact location of this tragic incident.”
The statement says an investigation into the call is ongoing.