WASHINGTON — Editor's Note: The video above was published on April 26, 2021, when the crash was first reported.
Nearly two years after two women were hit and killed by a truck at Hains Point, the driver has been arrested.
According to the United States Park Police, 61-year-old Melvin D. Conley has been arrested in connection to the deadly crash that happened in April 2021.
The two women killed in the crash were later identified as 55-year-old Rhonda Whitaker and 60-year-old Waldon Adams. A relative of one victim told WUSA9 in 2021 that the pair were friends and co-workers who walked in the park often for exercise.
Whitaker and Adams were hit by a pickup truck while visiting the Hains Point portion of East Potomac Park. Conley allegedly initially left the scene following the crash but was later identified by detectives and cooperated with the investigation.
Conley was arrested on Jan. 31 and has been charged with negligent homicide.
The death of the two women prompted D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to call for a review of pedestrian safety by the U.S. Park Service.
In 2021, park visitor Vincent Tobias said pedestrians have no other choice except to walk in the road.
"But you have no discipline in the street, " Tobias said. "You can walk this way you can walk that away. The bicycles speed through here. The cars speed through here.”
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser joins a chorus of park users asking the National Park Service to do something about the dangerous situation.