The crash happened around 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday night in James Monroe Park.

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Two pedestrians were struck and killed on Wednesday night in Northwest D.C. when a driver went barreling into a park near Foggy Bottom.

The two men were sitting on a bench at around 11:30 p.m. in James Monroe Park, near the intersection of 21st Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, when an SUV rammed into them, U.S. Park Police said.

Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene and the driver was taken to the hospital with non life-threatening injuries, says Sergeant Eduardo Delgado, a spokesperson for the park police.

“They do think that speed was an issue,” Delgado says. “All that would be determined by the traffic safety units’ final report.”

D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services confirmed the crash on Twitter on Wednesday night.

Footage from NBC’s Megan McGrath showed a cleanup crew removing debris from the scene on Thursday morning. In the video, workers can be seen sweeping around what appears to be at least two obliterated park benches.

Earlier on Wednesday morning, McGrath posted another video of the destroyed SUV being towed away from the park while tipped on its side.

Greg Billing, the executive director of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, says that the District Department of Transportation had plans to redesign the portion of Pennsylvania Avenue where the crash occurred. Billing says the city should have known to implement temporary fixes while they worked on redesigning the street.

“The more you look around, the more you can see where these things are preventable,” says Billing. “The city is doing good work, but just not at the pace and not doing some of the interim work to prevent crashes.”

The area sees a lot of foot and bicycle traffic, and homeless people often sleep on benches in James Monroe Park, he says.

Jordan Pascale contributed reporting.

Filed Under: car crash, foggy bottom, georgetown, national park police, pedestrian death,