WASHINGTON (WUSA) -- An accident involving a DC Department of Public Works vehicle has left one person dead and sent three city workers to the hospital.
Officials tell 9NEWS NOW the accident happened around 12:30 Tuesday morning in the 3rd Street Tunnel. Police say a woman was traveling in the southbound lanes when she inexplicably drove her a Chrysler Sebring into the back of a parked Ford pick-up belonging to the Department of Public Works. Three DPW workers were inside the vehicle when it was struck.
Linda Grant, spokeswoman for the DPW, confirms the three employees are part of a crew that picks up large pieces of trash from DC roadways. The 3rd Street tunnel is an area they regularly check for debris as part of their usual deployment. Grant says they had just arrived in the tunnel and had not been able to get out of the truck to begin work before they were hit from behind.
Police say the female driver, now identified as 23-year-old Haja Seymore-Wilson of DC, was transported to a local hospital where she was later pronounced dead. The DPW workers were transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The DC Police Department's Major Crash Investigations Unit responded to the accident with a reconstruction team which investigated the incident throughout the early morning hours. The southbound lanes of the 3rd Street tunnel were closed during the operation. Police opened the tunnel to traffic around 5:45, with a portion of the tunnel still partially blocked.