What to Know
- The U.S. Army's chief of staff and two soldiers rescued one person from the burning car. They were simply doing their jobs, the Army said.
- An expectant mom told News4 that police told her it was her 19-year-old boyfriend who died in the crash.
A 19-year-old man is dead and three others are injured after a crash involving a Metrobus and a vehicle on Suitland Parkway in southeast D.C., authorities say.
D.C. Fire and EMS tweeted Wednesday night that one person in a car was found dead when rescue crews arrived to the crash at the intersection of Suitland Parkway and Stanton Road SE. The crash happened about 10 p.m.
Police confirmed Friday that Tyrie Donnell Bailey, of Suitland, Maryland, died in the crash. Asija Ellerbe had told News4 on Thursday that police notified her that Bailey, her fiancé, was the victim. Bailey was a passenger in the car.
The driver of the car was taken to the hospital with critical injuries, according to D.C. Fire and EMS. They are expected to survive.
Two people on the bus were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, fire officials said.
Police said the driver of the car was going westbound on Suitland Parkway when they ran a red light, causing the car to collide with the bus that was going southbound on Stanton Road.
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Suitland Parkway was closed between Stanton Road and Firth Sterling for several hours due to the crash. The road reopened at about 4 a.m. Thursday.
"The light changed green for the bus to go and the car was coming down. It was like the car couldn't stop," said Lawrence Jennings, who witnessed the crash.
Ellerbe, who is six-months pregnant, said she last heard from Bailey about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday night when he told her he was in Riverdale with his friend and he was on his way home.
"This morning...we got a call from his friend's mom and she said it could possibly be Tyree who was the person who died," Ellerbe said.
Thursday afternoon, Ellerbe and her family members went to the intersection hoping to find anything that belongs to Bailey.
"All he kept talking about was 'I can't wait to have a baby. I can't wait to have her. I can't wait to hold her,'" Ellerbe said.
Bailey's family has created a GoFundMe page to raise money for his funeral.
The top U.S. Army officer and several of his staff and aides were among the first to go to the aid of motorists in the crash.
Gen. Mark Milley, the chief of staff of the Army, was traveling from Joint Base Andrews to Fort Myer in Virginia in a two-car convoy and came upon the accident.
According to Army Lt. Col. Rob Shaw, two soldiers helped pull one person from the car before it caught fire, and two others provided first aid to that person until the ambulance arrived.
According to a person familiar with the incident, Milley helped direct the response and assisted with the first aid. The soldiers were unable to pull the other victim from the car because it was in flames, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about the incident.
Shaw said the soldiers involved in assisting the crash victim want to remain anonymous and "were simply doing what they believed was the right thing to do, using their military training to help others.''
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect the correct spelling of the victim's name.
