A Ward 5 advisory neighborhood commissioner’s car was set ablaze early Friday outside her home in Northeast, leaving a hulk of metal but a no-less-determined D.C. Council candidate.
Kathy Henderson, a victim of harassment in the past, was awakened at 3:15 a.m. by the bright flames shooting from her 1991 Mercury Capri convertible. All that’s left now is the frame and four tires.
“I’m not dropping out of the race,” said Henderson, who is running to replace outgoing City Council Member Vincent Orange. “They’re not going to be able to intimidate me. I’m moving forward.”
Henderson, of the 1800 block of L Street, said investigators found a bottle of accelerant and matches nearby. That could not be confirmed with the authorities, though they said evidence was collected at the scene. She is convinced she was targeted as an ANC commissioner, after years of struggling to clear her neighborhood of drugs and criminals.
“It’s just truly bizarre,” she said. “But I’m not going anywhere.”
Alan Etter, D.C. fire department spokesman, said the fire was “set and it appears malicious.”
“Our arson investigators are currently trying to putinformation together that could lead to a suspect,” Etter said, urging anyone with information to call the city’s arson tipline at 866-91-ARSON.
Henderson’s car used to be white, but was repainted blue after someone set the gas tank on fire in January 2005. The convertible top had been slashed before as well. She is one of many volunteer ANC commissioners to suffer similar attacks.
Her plights and those of her colleagues were the impetus behind council legislation to stiffen penalties for harassing and intimidating public officials. The bill, introduced last year, was folded into the omnibus public safety act that’s now under consideration by the full council.
