A Metropolitan Police Department officer died Wednesday after suffering critical injuries in a fluke traffic collision in Northwest Washington five days earlier.
Doctors removed officer Wayne Pitt, 57, a four-year MPD veteran and a 20-year veteran of the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., police department, from life support at Washington Hospital Center on Wednesday morning, a police spokesman said. He had undergone multiple surgeries there over the weekend for internal injuries, following the crash that occurred at 9:15 p.m. Friday.
According to MPD, Pitt blocked traffic for an Easter procession at Mount Pleasant and Lamont streets in Mount Pleasant when he left his vehicle, which was apparently still in gear, to stop a motor scooter from crossing into the procession’s path. Pitt attempted to jump back into his car to apply the brake, but was still partially outside when it struck the scooter, a parked car and a tree, coming to a stop at Kilbourne Place.
In a message posted to a police e-mail list 90 minutes after the crash, Ward 1 D.C. Council Member Jim Graham told constituents “that he will be fine, though he did have a gash to the head.” Twelve hours later, Pitt’s condition turned dire.
The Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Alliance and MPD will hold a candlelight vigil and procession in Pitt’s memory at 8 p.m. Friday on Mount Pleasant Street. Pitt, who was assigned to Police Service Area 301, had a direct line of communication with Mount Pleasant residents via a cell phone provided through the Operation Live Link program.
“It was absolutely tragic,” Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Alliance President Laurie Collins said.
Pitt’s funeral arrangements were not available Wednesday.
