Montgomery County

Driver Hits Woman on Pedestrian Trail in Montgomery County

The driver got on the Capital Crescent Trail in DC, the Maryland-National Capital Park Police said.

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A man in his 70s drove a car onto a path meant for pedestrians and cyclists and hit a woman who was walking on the trail in Montgomery County before authorities managed to stop the driver, police say.

He got on the Capital Crescent Trail in D.C. just after 7:30 a.m. Thursday, Maryland-National Capital Park Police said.

"The driver was confused, unaware of their surroundings, and continued to drive along the trail," police said in a statement.

People who saw the driver called police, who then tried to locate and stop him. The driver hit a woman in her 80s walking on the trail near the Bethesda public pool, police said. Her injuries are not life threatening and she is out of the hospital, police said.

“The officers arrived on the scene,” Maryland-National Capital Park Police Lt. Tracy Lieberman said. “They tended to the person who was struck and they also tended to the driver of the vehicle, who was having a medical incident.”

Police didn’t say what the medical incident was.

“There was certainly some confusion with the person, and adding that with the medical incident, we think that they thought that they were on a roadway,” Lieberman said.

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Police said they stopped the vehicle after almost 7 miles on the trail. Authorities did not identify the driver, who was cited for failure to exercise due care to avoid a pedestrian.

The agency said it's working with Montgomery Parks to install more gates, bollards and boulders along the trail's intersections with River Road in hopes of preventing such incidents.

Police said more devices will be installed along the Dorset Road entrance to the trail by the end of the year.

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