Washington DC

DMV Says It Wasn't Aware of Driver's DUIs Before Deadly Rock Creek Parkway Crash

Prosecutors said the driver, Nakita Walker, had three previous DUI convictions in the District and two in Virginia. However, it appears her license had not been suspended as required by D.C. law.

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The D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles and D.C. Superior Court are trying to explain why the license of a woman with three prior DUIs in the District was not suspended at the time she allegedly caused a deadly wrong-way crash.

Nakita Walker is accused of speeding while under the influence of alcohol and marijuana when she crashed into a Honda sedan on Rock Creek Parkway. Three people inside the Honda, a Lyft driver and his two passengers, were killed. 

​Walker appeared in court on Tuesday on those charges, and her attorney told the judge she was compliant with the conditions of her last guilty plea in 2022. Prosecutors revealed she had three prior DUIs in D.C. She had two more in Virginia.

​Records at D.C. Superior Court show that when Walker pled guilty to her third DUI in April of 2022, as part of her sentence she was told she could not drive without a valid permit. So, when she was involved in the crash on Rock Creek Parkway, her license should have been suspended.

​When a person is convicted of DUI in the District, “the revocation is for a minimum of six months for a first offense. The penalties increase to one year and two years respectively for second and third offenses.”

​But Tuesday, Deputy Mayor for Operations and Infrastructure Lucinda Babers told a D.C. Council member the DMV had never heard of Walker.

​“Unfortunately, I just read about the individual involved in the [Rock Creek Parkway] crash and how D.C. Superior Court was being quoted as saying she had three DUIs,” Babers said. “D.C. DMV had notification of none of them, so now D.C. DMV will go back out to D.C. Superior Court to say, ‘What has happened?’”

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.

​The court disputes that.

In a statement on Wednesday, D.C. Superior Court spokesman Doug Buchanan said the court “successfully shared” the information with the DMV and there are “no computer issues” with the court’s data.

​Mayor Muriel Bowser said Wednesday that she has been briefed on the issue and will be looking into it.

​“I am not as familiar with the communication with the court and DMV as I am going to be and whatever gaps there are, we will fill them. And I actually think this sounds like a technology solution and a fix that could potentially make us safer on the roads, so it will have my full attention,” she said. 

​Additionally, court records in Fairfax, Virginia show Walker was driving a delivery truck for Fedex in January when she was accused of assaulting another delivery driver. That case was dismissed.

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