A photo taken from the scene of the fatal car crash on March 11 on the 5500 block of Connecticut Ave. NW.

/ Courtesy of Tim Shorrock

The driver of an SUV crashed into the outdoor patio of a restaurant in Chevy Chase shortly after noon on Friday, resulting in two deaths and a slew of injuries.

D.C. Fire and EMS transported eight people to nearby hospitals, five with critical injuries. One of those five died at a nearby hospital, Vito Maggiolo, a spokesperson for D.C. FEMS, told DCist/WAMU shortly after 2:30 p.m. Another person was later confirmed to have died at the hospital, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. Additional people were assessed for injuries on the scene.

Police identified the two women who died as 73-year-old Terese Dudnick Taffer and 76-year-old Jane Bloom, both Northwest D.C. residents.

Photos of the crash scene show a car that appears to have driven through the outdoor dining area of Parthenon Restaurant in the 5500 block of Connecticut Ave. NW. The person who answered the phone at Parthenon Restaurant declined to comment.

Law enforcement is investigating the incident. “There was no indication this was intentional,” Metropolitan Police Department Second District Commander Duncan Bedlion said at a news conference on Friday afternoon. “Unfortunately … the vehicle that was involved was operated by a person who lost control.”

Two patrons at a nearby Starbucks who witnessed the crash told the Washington Post that they saw the SUV cross Connecticut Avenue before accelerating and striking patrons sitting outside the restaurant.

“It suddenly accelerated,” Becky Pulles, one of those Starbucks patrons, told the outlet. “It looked like someone hit the accelerator instantly. It was going super-fast, like police-car fast.”

The Major Crash Investigations Team is investigating why the driver lost control of the vehicle. Bedlion described the driver as an elderly male driving alone, who has been cooperative with the investigation.

The preliminary investigation indicates that the driver was traveling south in a Subaru Forester through a parking lot on the 5500 block of Connecticut Ave. NW at a high speed, according to an MPD press release from March 12. He exited the parking lot westbound, continuing to travel southbound before veering north. Then, the vehicle mounted the west curb of the restaurant, plowing into patrons seated outside.

“We haven’t had an incident like this in many years,” D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said on the scene. “A car hitting a crowd of people is a very serious event and obviously a tragedy that results in a lot of injuries, serious injuries, and that is what we’re dealing with right now.”

There have been 498 crashes in D.C. involving injuries in 2022 through March 9, per Vision Zero data, and six traffic fatalities. Last year had been the deadliest year on the D.C. roads since 2007. With Friday’s deaths, the city has now seen more traffic deaths in 2022 as of March 11 as it did by this time in 2021.

Héctor Alejandro Arzate contributed reporting. This story has been updated to clarify that the driver crashed into the restaurant’s outdoor patio area, and with new information about the crash.

Filed Under: chevy chase, Traffic Safety, transportation, vision zero,