At approximately 1:55 this morning, Friday, February 16, 2007, a Mercedes Benz SUV, reportedly traveling at a high rate of speed, south on Wisconsin Avenue, NW, entered the north bound lane of the 3300 block of Wisconsin Avenue, NW.  It was at this time that the SUV struck a Chrysler Sebring in the north bound lane of the 3200 block of Wisconsin Avenue, NW.  The Sebring was pushed back into a parked car.  The Mercedes continued south in the north bound lane of Wisconsin Avenue striking a parked car before flipping on its back and landing in the front of 3213 Wisconsin Avenue, NW.

The driver of the Sebring, identified as 29-year-old Dairmuid O’Brien, of the 1900 block of Connecticut Avenue, N.W. was taken to the Washington Hospital Center’s MedStar Unit and pronounced dead at 3:05 this morning.  His name is being withheld pending the notification of his next of kin.  The driver of the Mercedes, identified as 42-year-old Kadri Atalay, of the 15600 block of Marathon Circle in Gaithersburg, Maryland, was also taken to the Washington Hospital Center’s MedStar Unit with apparent non-life threatening injuries. 

Mr. Atalay is presently charged with Second Degree Murder.  The case is under investigation by members of the department’s Major Crash Investigations Unit.  At this time speed and alcohol appear to be contributing factors.