Watch Video and Listen to 9-1-1 Calls
WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) -- The calls came in quickly Saturday evening. Workers at the District of Columbia Office of Unified Communications (911 Center) heard about the emergency by radio from police officers and EMS workers and by phone from people on the streets of Anacostia.
All were reporting the same thing: children and adults had been injured as a Volvo station wagon drove through the middle of the street festival known as Unifest. In all, almost 40 people were hurt, including the woman DC Police say was behind the wheel of the vehicle, Tonya Bell of Oxon Hill, Md.
From the EMS audio, you will hear the voice of EMS Captain Henry Lyles. Lyles, and a paramedic unit, had been assigned to the event and were standing-by at W Street near Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.
At 7:52 p.m., Captain Lyles is among the first to call in saying people had been injured by the vehicle. Moments later, Lyles is talking on the radio as the station wagon comes around the block and begins to strike more people.
By the time people were hurt at Unifest, DC Police officers from the 7th District had already been looking for Tonya Bell for about 20 minutes. Police say her car struck an unmarked detective's vehicle near Wheeler Road and Valley Avenue, Southeast at around 7:30 p.m.
The emergency radio traffic has police describing a number of sightings of the Volvo in the minutes prior to the station wagon showing up at Unifest. Once the first pedestrians were hit, numerous officers are heard trying to get help for the injured and to get the vehicle stopped.
There are also many calls to 911 from people who were watching it all happen.
