Bicyclist Killed in Collision With Guard Vehicle

WASHINGTON - A deadly turn of events Monday for the Nuclear Security Summit. A National Guard truck blocking an intersection for a motorcade struck and killed a woman on a bicycle. It happened just blocks from the convention center where President Barack Obama was holding a working dinner.

Just after 6 p.m., a motorcade came through headed to the Nuclear Security Summit. Another larger motorcade was not far behind. Police began shutting down the intersection, which they had done on and off throughout the day even though it was open to traffic.

Two five-ton National Guard trucks, which are used for transporting cargo, began to block the street when Mark Abbott suddenly heard the horrific crash from across the street in his third floor office.

"I heard the accident," Abbott said. "It was a terrible noise and then I screamed."

The second of the two trucks hit the bicyclist. The woman lay on the ground and never moved. The bicyclist was identified as 68-year-old Constance Holden of Northwest Washington and was pronounced dead on the scene. She had just left her office to head home.

Holden had been a reporter for Science since 1970, according to a statement from the journal's publisher, the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Among her awards was one from the National Mental Health Association for stories she wrote in 2003 on new developments in understanding and treating schizophrenia, depression and other mental health issues.

Abbott said when he looked out of the window, "police and civilians running up to the downed ... bicyclist to see what happened and immediately turning away. There was nothing they could do."

Seconds before the collision, one witness saw the woman on the bicycle on 12th Street.

"The woman on the bicycle tried to cross and the police officer she told her to back and she backed up," the witness told FOX 5. “The trucks moved and I heard the sound and I saw the truck on her body.”

The height of the large trucks makes visibility difficult. On the FOX 5 video, you can see a ground guide walking next to the trucks. His job is to make sure nothing or no one gets in the way but something clearly went wrong.

"We will look at the video to make sure the pedestrian didn't roll into the path of the truck as it was moving. But there was a ground guide holding the crowd back at this time," said Major General Errol Schwartz, Commander of the D.C. National Guard.

The D.C. National Guard has been involved in security for motorcades, although not on the scale of this, the largest gathering of world leaders in the city. The commanding general says they've never before had a deadly accident like this.