A young man who drove a Tesla that was involved in a crash that injured multiple people near the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C., last week has died, police say.
Mohammed Islam, 21, was driving a 2019 Tesla Model 3 southbound on Connecticut Avenue NW just before 8 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, when the Tesla crossed the solid-double yellow lines and went into the northbound lane, D.C. police said.
The Tesla then hit a 2018 Toyota C-HR and a 2010 Mercedes-Benz ML-350 head-on, police said. A 2017 Chevrolet Equinox that was also going northbound then hit the passenger side of the Tesla, police said.
Islam and his four friends who were in the car with him were taken to a hospital, as well as the driver of the Toyota and the driver of the Mercedes, police said. Three of the crash victims were critically injured.
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On Sunday, Islam died of his injuries, police said. Police did not provide updates on the other crash victims' conditions.
Family and friends told News4 that Islam, who lived in the Dorchester area of Boston, Massachusetts, was in D.C. visiting friends. Islam attended Boston University and his family was originally from Bangledesh, family and friends said.
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Police are investigating if speed or the old reversible lane signs were factors in the crash. The reversible lanes on Connecticut Avenue were discontinued during the pandemic.
Sources familiar with the investigation previously told News4 that some of the people in the Tesla were not wearing seatbelts.
Witnesses to the incident described the crash as loud and chaotic.
“I heard a big boom of a crash, and it even startled my cats,” Laurie Collins said.
“I mean it’s crazy. I was just inside the store, and I heard this banging noise, came outside and all I’ve seen are these whole bunch of cars in there, I think four of them in there, it was just chaos this morning,” Tewolde Yohannes said.
The crash left wreckage strewn along Connecticut Ave. near a crosswalk leading to the zoo's main entrance, fire department photos show.
