A D.C. man has been charged with second-degree murder in a hit-and-run incident in which the driver sped away from police in August 2024.
Metropolitan Police detectives on Tuesday arrested Jalen McLendon, 32, of Northeast, more than a year after the alleged incident occurred. The police did not say where they apprehended him.
Early in the morning of Aug. 31, 2024, an officer in the 1600 block of K Street NW saw a car being driven with no lights on. The officer tried to make a stop, but the driver, alleged to be Mr. McClendon, kept going at low speeds before turning onto 17th Street NW and speeding up.
The vechicle then crossed the double-yellow line at the intersection of 17th and L streets NW before going down L Street, police say. As the officer continued pursuit, the driver ran a red light at the intersection of 15th and L streets and hit moped rider Alpha Oumar Kake, 25, before continuing to flee.
The officer stopped to help Kake, and D.C. Fire and EMS took the moped rider to a hospital, where he died just over a month later on Oct. 1.
Kake was a resident of Temple Hills. His uncle, who did not provide a name, told WRC-TV in October 2024 that Kake, a Guinean, was in the U.S. to make money as a food delivery driver to send back to his home country.
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