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Police arrested a driver accused of evading officers near the National Mall in Northwest D.C. and then striking and killing an elderly man who was visiting from Philadelphia.
Benjamin Robertson, 33, of Washington, D.C., was arrested Thursday and charged with second degree murder, the United States Park Police (USPP) announced.
The crash occurred shortly before 1:30 p.m. on July 12 in the 1700 block of Constitution Avenue NW, next to the Ellipse and near the National Mall. The area was filled with tourists, investigators said.
Uniformed Secret Service officers tried to pull over Robertson — who was driving a Honda Accord — at the intersection of 17th Street NW and Constitution Avenue because the car had an expired tag, the Secret Service said. Robertson indicated that he would pull over but then fled south on 17th Street NW, running a red light and hitting three people in the crosswalk at the intersection, according to U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division spokesperson Lt. Paul Mayhair.
Witness Ehab Sorour described a horrifying scene. He was standing near the intersection when he saw the driver ram into the pedestrians in the crosswalk. He said the man who was killed landed on the hood of the Honda. What reportedly happened next was even more shocking.
“All of a sudden, it just hit the guy. The guy flew up – I saw him when he was flying up. He came down on the hood,” he said. “All of a sudden, he backed up a little bit and ran over him again and kept on continuing down until the light.”
Bing Wong, of Philadelphia, was the victim, U.S. Park Police revealed. He was rushed to a hospital in critical condition and died there. He was 75.
“Bing was a kind, quiet man of few words and enjoyed spending time with his family,” a statement from his family said. “He lived his life to the fullest, and that’s exactly what he was doing during the day of July 12 with his family.”
He had three children and six grandchildren.
Two other people, including the 13-year-old daughter of Wong’s family friend, were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
Officers had tried to pull over the driver for expired tags, but the driver fled and hit three people in a crosswalk at 17th and Constitution, a Secret Service official said. One person was killed. News4’s Mauricio Casillas reports.
The car involved in the crash has racked up $720 in speeding tickets in Northeast and Southeast D.C. since spring 2021, public records show. Three instances of speeding were caught on traffic cameras, with two tickets for speeding 11 to 15 mph over the limit and one ticket for speeding 16 to 20 mph over the limit.
Constitution Avenue and 17th Street were closed to drivers for hours and later reopened.
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