On Sept. 15, 2003, Denise Marguerite Henderson of Leesburg was crossing a street on her lunch break when a Centreville man driving without a license struck and killed her.
Last Friday, March 11, in District of Columbia Superior Court, Juan Miguel Mendez, 24, of 6767 Jenny Leigh Court in the Clifton Townes community, was sentenced to two years and three months in prison.
The tragedy occurred around 1:38 p.m., at Connecticut Avenue and L Street, N.W., in Washington, D.C. Henderson, 50, worked as a legal transcriptionist at Beta Reporting and Videography, just a few blocks away.
Mendez was a day laborer for a company that installed marble. But without his employer's permission, he had taken a white, 2000 Chevrolet Astro van that belonged to the company.
He was traveling southbound on Connecticut Avenue and L Street, N.W., and, after the traffic signal turned green for southbound traffic, he accelerated the vehicle and entered the intersection. He then crossed L Street and struck Henderson, who was crossing eastbound within the south crosswalk.
"The impact threw Ms. Henderson onto the hood of the van and then back to the street," said Channing Phillips, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice. "The defendant continued to drive over Ms. Henderson and fled south on Connecticut on the wrong side of the street."
A D.C. POLICE officer testifying during Mendez' arraignment, the following afternoon, stated that the Centreville man "drove at a high rate of speed southbound on Connecticut Avenue and passed a red traffic signal at K Street, N.W."
Police broadcast a lookout for the van but, as things turned out, it was finally stopped by shocked and horrified witnesses who saw the accident and chased after the van on foot and by bicycle. "Several citizens pursued the defendant from the collision scene," said the officer. "He was subsequently stopped and blocked in by citizens, as well as police, at 12th and E Street, N.W."
Henderson was rushed to George Washington University Hospital, where she died, a short time later. (Originally from Long Island, N.Y., she'd resided in Upper Darby, Pa., prior to moving to Leesburg with her husband in 1987).
Meanwhile, D.C. Metropolitan police took Mendez into custody, around 2 p.m., and charged him with negligent homicide, leaving after colliding (with injuries), no operator's permit and failing to yield the right of way to a pedestrian.
On Sept. 24, 2003, the charges against him were sent to the grand jury. However, because of the large volume of crimes in the District, he was not indicted until March 23, 2004.
His jury trial began Dec. 13 in D.C. Superior Court, before Judge Ann O'Regan Keary, and ended on Dec. 17. After breaking for the weekend, the jurors deliberated for three hours on Dec. 20 before finding Mendez guilty of negligent homicide and unauthorized use of a vehicle.
"[The van] belonged to his employer, George Reed," explained Phillips. "Mendez had worked for him for about 2 1/2 years. He had a valid work permit, but he was not to drive any of the company vehicles unless he had a driver's license."
On Friday, Keary sentenced Mendez to 27 months in prison. U.S. Attorney Kenneth Wainstein commended the work done on this case by the Major Crash Investigation Unit team — Det. Joseph Diliberto, Det. Elgin Wheeler and Investigator Gerald Anthony. He also acknowledged the efforts of Forensic Services Technician Dawn Leary and Assistant U.S. Attorney John Soroka, who prosecuted the case.