A police officer responding to a call for assistance struck and killed a female pedestrian in Southeast on Friday night, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

The officer, a member of the Sixth District, was driving in the 2800 block of Minnesota Avenue SE in a marked police car with the lights flashing and sirens activated, police said in a statement. The woman, who has not been identified, was walking in the roadway at the time, according to that account.

D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services transported the woman to the hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries, police said.

MPD spokesperson Hugh Carew said the officer has been placed on administrative leave with pay, and he confirmed that the officer remained on the scene of the crash. Carew declined to provide additional details, citing the open investigation.

The press statement said it is being investigated by both the major crash investigations unit and the department’s internal affairs division.

The location of the crash was just a few blocks away from the first traffic fatality of 2020. A 32-year-old woman was killed while on the sidewalk in the early hours of New Year’s Day in a hit-and-run at the intersection of Minnesota Avenue and  L’Enfant Square SE.

There have been 18 traffic fatalities so far this year, a 29 percent increase over last year despite a pandemic that has kept people at home in huge numbers, according to the latest MPD data.

This story has been updated with additional details about traffic fatalities.