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.
Off-duty police officer Christopher Jordan drove past the scene as Holly started to drive away from the crash site, prompting him to intervene by cutting off her path with his van, ABC affiliate WJLA reports.
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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.
