WASHINGTON — Three people were found dead after a car was seen plunging into Anacostia River below the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge late Thursday night, according to officials.
The search for the vehicle began after DC Fire and EMS were notified by a 911 caller, just before 11 p.m., of a possible car in the river. Track marks were found showing the vehicle going into the water, leading to the search.
A search was conducted by land, water and air with use of fireboats. Help was given in the form of the U.S. Coast Guard, the Metropolitan Police Department Harbor Division, the U.S. Park Police's Eagle helicopter and MPD's helicopter.
Within the first hour of the search, the submerged vehicle was found, according to an 11:48 p.m. tweet from DC Fire and EMS.
Authorities said that one man was found dead inside the recovered car. "Sadly, this will be a recovery rather than a rescue," DC Fire and EMS said in their 12:44 a.m. update from Friday.
Divers with the DC Police continued to search the water after the discovery of the vehicle as well as the one person inside and unfortunately more victims were found. In the area around where the submerged vehicle was located, less than an hour after the initial recovery, a man and a woman were found dead, according to authorities.
Two of the three victims have been identified.
The driver was identified as Artareihk Knight, 45, of Clinton, Maryland. One of the passengers was identified as Timjuan Mundell, 46, of Southeast, D.C. The second passenger has not been identified pending notification of their next of kin.
DC firefighters and the Office of Unified Communications are right now investigating to try and determine why rescuers were initially dispatched to the wrong location. They began searching for the car around the 11th Street Bridge instead of the Frederick Douglas Bridge.
A spokeswoman for the OUC hopes to have answers for the public within a few hours.
It’s not clear if it was a mistake by the caller or the call taker at this point. It’s also not clear how long the mistake held up the rescue. But radio traffic recorded by OpenMhz.com makes it clear it was long minutes.
The mistake was first reported by former WUSA9 reporter Dave Statter on his Twitter feed @Statter911.
Investigators are still working to determine how to car ended up in the water.
Photos: Crews search Anacostia River
Sign up for the Get Up DC newsletter: Your forecast. Your commute. Your news.
Sign up for the Capitol Breach email newsletter, delivering the latest breaking news and a roundup of the investigation into the Capitol Riots on January 6, 2021.