A woman has been charged with attempted manslaughter after an off-duty policeman ended up on her car bonnet as she attempted to flee the scene of a crash near Washington D.C. Reports say she then drove for more than a mile at speeds up to 80mph, with the officer “holding on for his life”.
Denai Holly, 25, was driving on the Interstate 270 highway on Monday morning when she collided with two cars.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
As he approached the vehicle on foot, Jordan “advised her he was a police officer, and she accelerated toward him”, Maryland State Police sergeant DeVaughn Parker told NBC affiliate WTOP.
As Jordan fell on to her bonnet, she continued to speed away from the scene, with the officer clinging on to the vehicle in what seemed like “a script out of an action movie”, says WTOP.
“Charging documents say she drove about a mile at 80 mph down Interstate 270 before the officer could safely roll off her car,” the Associated Press reports.
Jordan had been on the phone to the nearby Rockville police station when he approached Holly’s vehicle, and throughout the hair-raising ordeal he managed to stay on the line with fellow officers.
“Everything was pretty live,” Sgt Parker said. “He has the phone in one hand and, the way they’re traveling, the other holding on for his life.”
Minutes after Jordan dived off the bonnet to safety, Holly was stopped by officers in a car park just off the highway.
Appearing in court on Tuesday, Holly, a mother of three, admitted to fleeing the collision but denied any interaction with Jordan.
She has been charged with attempted manslaughter, two counts of assault and reckless endangerment.
-
Should Britain withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights?Talking Point With calls now coming from Labour grandees as well as Nigel Farage and the Tories, departure from the ECHR 'is starting to feel inevitable'
-
5 outspoken cartoons about Epstein survivors taking center stageCartoons Artists take on cover-ups, Trump surrounded, and more
-
Codeword: September 6, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
Home Office worker accused of spiking mistress’s drink with abortion drugSpeed Read Darren Burke had failed to convince his girlfriend to terminate pregnancy
-
In hock to Moscow: exploring Germany’s woeful energy policySpeed Read Don’t expect Berlin to wean itself off Russian gas any time soon
-
Were Covid restrictions dropped too soon?Speed Read ‘Living with Covid’ is already proving problematic – just look at the travel chaos this week
-
Inclusive Britain: a new strategy for tackling racism in the UKSpeed Read Government has revealed action plan setting out 74 steps that ministers will take
-
Sandy Hook families vs. Remington: a small victory over the gunmakersSpeed Read Last week the families settled a lawsuit for $73m against the manufacturer
-
Farmers vs. walkers: the battle over ‘Britain’s green and pleasant land’Speed Read Updated Countryside Code tells farmers: ‘be nice, say hello, share the space’
-
Motherhood: why are we putting it off?Speed Read Stats show around 50% of women in England and Wales now don’t have children by 30
-
Anti-Semitism in America: a case of double standards?Speed Read Officials were strikingly reluctant to link Texas synagogue attack to anti-Semitism
