Congress in recess due to shots fired.

[SirSai]

Link to some video of the lady driving crazy... http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a99_1380839928

Looks similar to people in Boulder when they try to operate a vehicle.

[DavieD55]

They will blame it on the shut-down somehow.

It is all Ted Cruz's fault.

[Irving]

Jim, no innocents were killed = no news.

[Great-Kazoo]

Jim, no innocents were killed = no news.

well fuk it then. I caught a blurb coming out of PT off CNN with wolf sniffer. he was discussing how the DCPD over reacted, asking if gun play was needed to stop the car.

[cstone]

I don not believe a single Metropolitan officer was present during yesterday's chase and shooting. US Secret Service Uniformed Division, US Capitol Police, and I believe one US Park Police unit was involved in the chase. Park Police supplied the medivac for the injured Capitol Police officer, who was injured when he collided with a barrier. Metropolitan (otherwise referred to as MPDC) is the city police department, and while they are involved in the investigation, Capitol, Secret Service, and FBI crime scene investigators have processed the crime scenes.

I remember when the Secret Service first established the checkpoint at 15th and E street NW. It was done at the same time Pennsylvania Ave was shut down on the north side of the White House, between 15th and 17th. It really made traffic through that section of the city terrible. Most east/west traffic is forced to use H street to the north of Lafayette Park or Constitution on the south side of the Ellipse. It's just better to avoid the area at rush hour. When tourists asked me where they could park, I would just tell them to drive back to Maryland or Virginia and take the Metro.

Even though DC is laid out in grid, there are many diagonals (major roads if you are trying to get anywhere) and most go through or involve transiting circles. These are not like Colorado traffic circles. DuPont Circle has an inner ring (for through traffic) and outer ring for local traffic. In traffic, it can take ten minutes or more to get through some of these circles.

If this woman was anxious for any reason before she got to DC...driving around DC without any knowledge of where she was or where she was going, multiplied by the numerous checkpoints and closed roads, then confronted by a bunch of guys with guns... I can see how easily she lost it and the flight instinct kicked in. She apparently hit several officers. She probably focused in on getting away and never heard the commands to stop or get out of the car. I don't know what her medical, emotional, or mental status was yesterday, but like so many situations, a chain of bad choices can sometimes result in fatalities. Sadly, I don't think we will see the end of these types of incidents. Growing up in the DC area, I can recall at least two similar incidents, like we have observed recently, every year in DC.

Be safe.