Video shows jail interview of DUI driver who hit and killed DC officer

Video obtained by News4 shows the moments after a driver who police say was drunk and speeding hit a D.C. police officer. Officer Terry Bennett died over two weeks after he was struck while helping another driver on I-695. He was 32.

Driver Jerrold Coates was charged with second-degree murder while armed.

Videos show police responding to the crash scene, Coates being questioned and what police say was Coates speeding before he crashed into Bennett.

“We have an officer down,” an officer responding to the crash scene says on bodycam video.

Bennett was on the ground, unconscious. Seeing his dire condition, his fellow officers picked him up and rushed him to MedStar Washington Hospital Center.

Coates also was on the ground nearby. He was eventually handcuffed and surrounded by U.S. Capitol Police officers who responded.

“You were in a real bad accident,” Coates is told.

“An accident?” he asks. “What happened?”

“I just told you: You were in a traffic accident. Do you have any idea where you are?” Coates is told.

He was taken to a hospital, where a toxicology report said he had a blood alcohol content of 0.16, or twice the legal limit. The same report also detected the presence of marijuana in his system.

During the investigation, police discovered video from a building’s surveillance camera. Investigators say it shows Coates speeding and weaving in and out of traffic on a ramp to the freeway.

A driver’s dashboard camera then shows what police say is Coates speeding onto the highway just before hitting Bennett.

Court documents filed in the case say Bennett was thrown about 22 feet. The eight-year veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department died on Jan. 7, 15 days after the crash.

Video shows Coates in a jail cell, using a wheelchair, on Jan. 9 after his arrest. He agreed to be interviewed by police. After waiving his rights, he is asked a series of questions about the hand controls he used to operate his car and what he remembers about the crash. He said a car cut him off just before the collision.

“I just remember swerving, and then the police came and telling me whatever they’re telling me. I didn’t see no lights. I didn’t see no flares. I didn’t see no nets, no people. I didn’t see none of that,” he said.

Video seen in court shows there were flares in the road where Bennett was assisting a driver.

Coates told police he had been drinking before the crash. But he said he didn’t think he was impaired.

“Do you think the alcohol may have impaired you?” an officer asks him.

“I mean, alcohol do what it do. I wasn’t drunk enough to be drunk like I didn’t know what was going on and I hit an officer,” Coates said.

After a hearing, Coates was ordered held without bond until his trial.

Bennett was remembered at his funeral as a husband, father, son and hero. He was a native Washingtonian who gave his life in the line of duty.

News4 obtained videos that were shown at a Feb. 9 court hearing by appealing to the Superior Court judge.

Law enforcement officers lined D.C. streets on in an emotional salute to Officer Terry Bennett. The 32-year-old Metropolitan Police Department officer died after he was hit by a car as he helped a driver on I-695 before Christmas. News4’s Dominique Moody reports.