Secret Service Motorcade Strikes, Kills Pedestrian

According to news reports, two cars that normally make up Vice President Biden's motorcade were involved in a fatal accident early Wednesday morning.

The Washington Post traffic report states that the incident happened at 3:07 a.m, in Temple Hills, Md., at the intersection of Suitland Parkway and Naylor Road. (Though The Hill places the time of the crash at 2:27 a.m.). A pedestrian was struck by two Secret Service employees driving vehicles that were designated for Biden's use. Biden was not in either vehicle at the time of the crash. The victim was rushed to the hospital but declared dead Wednesday morning. The victim's name has not yet been released, and the incident is still under investigation. Read more details here.

Comments

[ashtray]

11:11 AM on 11/12/2009

Nothing good ever happens after 2am.

[Tulka2]

05:32 PM on 11/12/2009

That about sums it up.... especially if alcohol is involved. Now... snark hunting is some fun. That you do away from roads. ;)

[KIVPossum]

04:04 AM on 11/12/2009

Has anyone checked on the victim's religion? I'm going for the suicide jaywalker theory. Seems to be a terrorist plot to test Secret Service reaction times and vehicle strength prior to launching a full scale attack on a motorcade.

[afgail]

02:52 AM on 11/12/2009

Strange that a pedestrian was out in the street at 2:00 am. Can't imagine that the car jumped the curb and was driving on the sidewalk. Do you suppose the pedestrian was possibly drunk?

[ckesegi]

01:27 AM on 11/13/2009

Strange that a pedestrian was out at 2:00am?!?!

Perhaps in some places, that are lacking in population density.

Here in Seattle, the bars and other nightspots close at 2:00am.
You'll never guess what I do next. I WALK to my home about 5 blocks away!

Real strange, isn't it?

[FishOfTheProletariat]

02:34 AM on 11/12/2009

Cheney's motorcade almost killed me on it's way through Slidell to New Orleans. They were driving forty over in a 35... just HAULIN a$$.

I really felt like, "these elites need some damn humility"

[keepemhonest]

08:43 AM on 11/12/2009

Are you calling the Secret Service "elites"

[weebils]

02:09 AM on 11/12/2009

I am sure we will see this on the Family Guy.

[tisfilm]

01:31 AM on 11/12/2009

Very sad news. Sorry for their families.
I understand secret service motorcade always move too fast, police, and another would never stopped.
Always look at side of the road.
Very sad!!!!

[ie]

01:08 AM on 11/12/2009

condolences to the family of the deceased

[dadw5boys]

12:43 AM on 11/12/2009

Before you make a silly comment look up the dozens of people who have been run over by the drivers of Presidential vechiles.

Including Policeman, motorcycle cops are espically in danger as the vechiles travel so fast and so close..

[addmy2cents]

12:37 AM on 11/12/2009

President W Bush's motorcades killed a policeman in Hawaii and one in New Mexico. Senator Hillary Clinton's motorcade killed an officer in Dallas.

You'd figure a motorcade to be a pretty safe operation, but it appears they are quite dangerous.

[DallasDon]

01:00 AM on 11/12/2009

I'm amazed at drivers who manage to run into police cars parked on the side of the road for a traffic stop with their lights flashing.

[KIVPossum]

01:16 AM on 11/12/2009

This wasn't exactly a motorcade, instead only cars assigned to be part of a motorcade. So you would assume, without Biden in a car, they would follow normal traffic laws.

However a motorcade doesn't stop. When Yushchenko and Medvedev came to our town, they blocked off half the town and the cars ran down main street at 60 MPH.

[pharmmajor]

12:05 AM on 11/12/2009

A person is dead; how can anyone use this as a pulpit for their dumb political meanderings. Seriously, it's sick.

[GiannaX]

01:39 AM on 11/12/2009

Agreed!

[thetruthmustbetold]

09:45 AM on 11/12/2009

Excellent statement. You provide a much needed moral compass.

[CoronaDischarge]

11:57 PM on 11/11/2009

There is a traffic light at the intersection and a Metro stop (Naylor Road Station on the green line), but it doesn't run between midnight and 5 am weekdays. Otherwise there are no buildings around there within a couple of hundred feet of Suitland Parkway. There is a Club 51 Liquor store on the other side, but not open at 2:30 am in the morning and several hundred feet away. It looks like there was some unfortunate judgment involved, by one party or the other at a bad time of the morning. You would normally expect the Secret Service drivers to be experienced and capable. It could be either party's fault, if it was at the crosswalk depending on who was moving against the light.

[UrbanNight]

11:56 AM on 11/12/2009

Not quite right Corona. Although I now live in Alabama, I grew up in SE along Naylor Road. The Suitland Parkway forms a border between DC and Maryland at the intersection of the accident. The metro is on the Maryland side. It was wrong to insinuate some early morning vagrancy or liquor hunt. Truth be told, that entire area is an African-American working class/ middle class neighborhood where some people work night shifts. The Metrobus 36 Naylor Road has a terminus at the Metro station and keeps late hours. Many pedestrians cross that dangerous intersection daily going back and forth from their homes/apartments. Long ago, when they finally got around to buiilding the Naylor Road station, they should have included an overpass at the intersection, but like most things in Southeast Washington DC, it may take another 30 more years :)

[G FORCE]

11:53 PM on 11/11/2009

oh man not good

[billobasher]

10:27 PM on 11/11/2009

Right wingers have absolutely no class. They claim the drivers of the car were "Democrats." yep, all Secret Service Agents must be "Democrats." They have no regard for the person who was killed. Inside of two minutes they are already trying to politicize this. Even though Biden was not even in the cars.

Have tghese peopel NO sense of decency?

[KIVPossum]

03:58 AM on 11/12/2009

No, they don't

[Newthron]

10:17 PM on 11/11/2009

The timing of the unexpected is, most of the time, brutal.

Two different stories, that nothing, nothing could have prepared for the possibility that, they exist respectively, and are, on the same course.....
Tragedy, what else can you say in a moment like this......Peace.

[delvis]

11:49 PM on 11/11/2009

life without fear- love life

[Pquilson]

09:54 PM on 11/11/2009

Democrats just can't drive, can they? 3:07 AM. How many people are out on the street at that hour? These guys could not avoid the pedestrian? Nice.

[Pavane]

10:13 PM on 11/11/2009

Why the guy was walking there at that time of the morning, in the dark, where no one would expect a pedestrian to be.

[sasson]

10:39 PM on 11/11/2009

Look, I am a Democrat and all, but I am also utterly shocked that you just blamed the victim. That was kind of sick.

[Heather Garver]

10:27 PM on 11/11/2009

pquilson: secret service agents can be from either party or none at all...has nothing to do with politics, just bad driving...