Bodycam video shows driver flee Rock Creek traffic stop leading to fatal crash

Jurors saw body camera video from the night in 2023 when a driver sped away from a traffic stop before crashing into a rideshare car on Rock Creek Parkway, killing the rideshare driver and his two passengers.

Nakita Walker is on trial for murder. Prosecutors say she was drunk, speeding and fleeing a traffic stop when she crashed into a driver working for Lyft.

Earlier this week, the jury was shown video from three police body cameras. One of them shows the traffic stop, and the other two show the aftermath of the crash about 1:30 a.m. March 15.

In the video from the traffic stop, Walker was behind the wheel, prosecutors say, and Donnell Thomas, who has not been charged with a crime in connection to the crash, was in the passenger seat. Police informed Walker she was speeding and driving through red lights. She said she was trying to get home to her son, who she said was 10 years old and alone.

Thomas is seen pouring what was revealed in testimony to be liquor out of a cup before the officer noticed what appeared to be marijuana in his pocket. The officer informed him he couldn’t have marijuana on federal property and confiscated it.

A few seconds later, the video shows Walker speed off.

Thomas testified Wednesday under a grant of immunity, saying he was concerned with Walker’s behavior that night. Thomas told the court he told Walker at least twice that he should drive, instead, even arguing with her, but she insisted.

A short time after Walker fled the traffic stop, she slammed into Lyft driver Mohamed Kamara, prosecutors say, instantly killing him and passengers Jonathan Cabrera Mendez and Olvin Torres Velasquez, who were headed home after a night out in D.C.

One U.S. Park Police officer’s body camera showed him arriving at the scene of the crash. Walker is seen on the ground after Thomas said he pulled her out of the car.

Body camera video from a D.C. police officer responding to the crash captured the moment when he realized all three men were dead after looking in the rideshare car.

When Walker first was charged, police said she was driving between 72 and 100 mph when the crash occurred. Prosecutors say she had a blood alcohol content of 0.10 – two points above the legal limit.

Walker pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. She has three previous DUI convictions and has been in jail since her arrest in 2023.

The trial resumes Monday.