A driver who fled a traffic stop on D.C.’s Rock Creek Parkway and crashed into a Lyft car, killing all three men inside in 2023, was found not guilty of second-degree murder.
Nakita Walker was found guilty on Monday morning of three counts of involuntary manslaughter, fleeing a law enforcement officer and assault with a dangerous weapon.
Walker was driving 100 mph when she crashed into a Honda at about 1:30 a.m. March 15, 2023, an expert witness testified.
The crash victims were Mohamed Kamara, 42; Olvin Torres Velasquez, 22; and Jonathan Cabrera Mendez, 23. Kamara was driving for Lyft to send money home to his family in Sierra Leone. His two passengers were on their way home to Arlington after a night out in D.C.
Walker had no visible reaction in court as the verdict was announced. The victims’ families were not in the courtroom.
News4 has covered the crash since it happened and the court case since Walker was charged with murder.
Walker pleaded not guilty to three counts of second-degree murder. She was accused of being drunk behind the wheel and had three previous DUI convictions.
Nakita Walker was traveling 100 miles per hour on Rock Creek Parkway for 10 seconds before the March 2023 crash that claimed the lives of three men, according to new testimony from the District’s chief medical examiner. News4’s Paul Wagner reports.
‘Is there a reason you’re driving like 80 miles an hour?’
Police body camera video shows the moments before and after the tragedy. An officer pulled over Walker near the Kennedy Center and asked why she was speeding.
“Is there a reason you’re driving like 80 miles an hour, blowing red lights?” an officer asks.
Walker was behind the wheel and Donnell Thomas, who was not charged, was in the passenger seat, prosecutors said. Walker told the officer she was rushing to get home to her son, who she said was 10 years old and alone.
Thomas can be seen on video pouring out of the window what was revealed in testimony to be liquor out of a cup before the officer noticed what appeared to be marijuana in his pocket. The officer informed him he couldn’t have marijuana on federal property and confiscated it.
A few seconds later, the video shows Walker speed off.
A short time after Walker fled the traffic stop, she slammed into the Lyft car, killing all three men inside.
A U.S. Park Police officer’s body camera showed him arriving at the crash scene. Walker is seen on the ground.
Body camera video from a D.C. officer responding to the crash captured the moment he realized all three men were dead.
Prosecutors said Walker had a blood alcohol content of 0.10, which is 0.02 above the legal limit.
Thomas testified under a grant of immunity, saying he had been concerned with Walker’s behavior that night. Thomas told the court he told Walker at least twice that he should drive but she insisted.
On the witness stand, Thomas testified that Walker sped off because the officer was harassing him for having liquor in a cup and marijuana in his pocket.
Thomas testified that he pulled Walker out of the car after the crash. A man who came upon the crash scene before police arrived testified that he pulled her out.
The D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles and D.C. Superior Court are pointing fingers to explain why the license of a woman with three prior DUIs was not suspended at the time she allegedly caused a deadly wrong-way crash. News4’s Paul Wagner reports.
D.C.’s chief medical examiner told jurors the men all died of multiple blunt force trauma injuries. As the jury was shown autopsy photos of the victims, Walker never looked up from her seat at the defense table.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
