2 Metro DC Bike Cops Hit By Truck, 1 Worker Hurt: Police

WASHINGTON, DC — Two Washington DC Metro Police bike cops were hit by a truck, along with a public works employee Thursday night, according to multiple media outlets. Police officers gathered late in the evening at Medstar Washington Hospital Center to await word on their colleagues, while investigators tried to unearth whether terrorism was behind the crash.

Witnesses told reporters that a pickup truck swerved around a WMATA bus at a high rate of speed and struck the officers in the Adams Morgan neighborhood, NBC Washington reports. Authorities said they are investigating whether the officers were targeted and whether or not terrorism was a motive in the incident.

Metropolitan Police Chief Peter Newsham said at a news conference that a DC Public Works traffic control aide was also hit by the pickup. One of the officers is in very critical condition, while the other two victims were seriously injured, but they do not appear to be life-threatening injuries.

The truck finally stopped when it crashed into a dump truck in the 1800 block of Adams Mill Road, where it was disabled, police said. Two people inside the pickup truck were arrested and a weapon was recovered, Newsham said, although he didn't say what type of weapon.

Terrorists have used vehicles several times in the past year to kill civilians in Europe. A semi-truck ran down dozens of people in France last summer, while just last Saturday six people died in London when a van drove onto the sidewalk along London Bridge, striking pedestrians. The New York Times says that in March four people died when a man drove his car onto Westminster Bridge, and then fatally stabbed a police officer before being shot and killed.