White House silent on deadly tragedy rocking Trump's military parade
The White House was mum Wednesday about the tragic death of a Washington, DC woman who was hit by a truck carrying an M1-Abrams tank that took part in the Army parade President Trump attended Sunday.
The truck was part of a convoy transporting military vehicles back to Fort Hood, Texas from the parade, which celebrated the Army's 250th anniversary and fell on Trump's 79th birthday.
The woman, identified as Sierra Nichole Smith, 39, died at the intersection of New York Avenue and Bladensburg Road in the city's Northeast quadrant en route to Jessup, Maryland on June 16. Emergency personnel performed lifesaving measures but were unsuccessful.
Police who conducted a preliminary investigation said Smith ran into the road and stumbled in front of a truck carrying the 70-ton tank. According to the Metropolitan Police Department she was dragged for several blocks, then got hit by a 2007 Chevy Suburban that was driving behind the truck in the convoy.
The drivers were private contractors and not members of the military. No one has been charged with a crime.
One local official called it 'just a tragedy.'
'These tanks did not need to be on local streets and consequently they didn't need to be hauled away in a big convoy,' DC's 'shadow senator' Paul Strauss told the Daily Mail.
'In some ways it's a very random accident that could have occurred with another vehicle. But it really begs the question: Why was this necessary to have all this equipment here? We don't know if enough precautions were taken. It's not an everyday occurrence that military hardware takes over the city in the way it did,' he said. He called it an 'unneccssary exercise done for the sole purpose of appeasing the president's ego on his birthday. And it's unfortunate.'
'The details that have been made public are just horrific. She was dragged for blocks. It's horrific for so many reasons,' Strauss said.
A Washington Metropolitan Police Department spokeswoman said officers responded to 'an adult female, unconscious and not breathing, suffering from life-threatening injuries,' according to local media reports.
USA Today, after reviewing an Army document on the incident, reported that an initial police investigation cleared the truck driver and said no military personnel were involved.
The tanks were part of a parade costing up to $45 million and consisting of 120 vehicles, 6,000 soldiers, flyovers and a parachute jump.
Trump was highly attuned to the parade, touting it beforehand and delivering a short speech at the event while accompanied by first lady Melania Trump.
trip to Canada for the G7, and denying the celebration had to do with his birthday.
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