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The Metropolitan Police Department released body camera footage Tuesday of a police pursuit that resulted in the death of a man riding a moped.

Around 3:30 a.m. on Aug. 31, Officer Matthew Givens attempted to stop a driver of a gray Jeep without its headlights on in the 1600 block of K Street NW. The driver did not stop and continued on “at a low rate of speed,” according to MPD. Givens pursued the driver with his emergency lights on, occasionally activating his siren and horn.

The driver continued for a few blocks downtown with Givens in pursuit. At 15th and L streets NW, the driver ran a red light and struck a moped rider before fleeing the scene, according to MPD.

The moped rider, Alpha Kake, 25, was unconscious but breathing when Givens approached him near the intersection of 15th and L streets NW. He was taken to the hospital. Kake died of his injuries on Oct. 1.

Before paramedics arrived, as Givens tended to Kake, he told other officers that “I tried to affect a traffic stop and the car fled, ran a red light and hit him,” referring to Kake.

Later, when Givens was speaking to a supervisor about the incident, he said after he turned his lights on, the Jeep “didn’t flee. It just drove slow but didn’t pull over. It didn’t flee or nothing; it just drove slow, and I kept hitting my siren, horn.”

Givens said the driver of the Jeep turned right onto 16th Street NW, “and when we got to 16th and L, they hit the right and gunned it and in this intersection they hit the scooter.” He estimated that he was about a block behind the driver of the Jeep when they hit Kake.

Givens told the supervisor that he was trying to give a “look out for a fleeing vehicle” when the Jeep hit the moped rider.

MPD is investigating the incident as an officer-involved death, and its Internal Affairs Division will determine whether Givens is in some way responsible. Givens has been with the department since 2012, according to employment records. 

Under MPD’s general orders, officers are prohibited from pursuing a vehicle “for the sole purpose of affecting a traffic stop.” Officer Terence Sutton was convicted of second-degree murder in late 2022 for a pursuit that led to the death of another moped rider, Karon Hylton-Brown. But that chase lasted for three minutes and spanned several blocks near Kennedy Street NW, with Sutton reaching speeds of up to 45 miles per hour.

Police are still searching for the driver of the Jeep who struck Kake.

—Mitch Ryals (tips? mryals@washingtoncitypaper.com)

• Retired professor and alleged jewel thief Lawrence Gray pleaded no contest in Rhode Island to stealing a diamond and sapphire brooch that belonged to a woman who hosted him for a wedding. Gray’s alleged thievery extends from Rhode Island to New York to D.C., where he has been accused of stealing jewels and a watch from his late romantic partner and Georgetown socialite Jacqueline Quillen. Gray has said he doesn’t consider his pleas an acknowledgment of guilt and denied that he stole from anyone. [Post]
• Nearly 70 percent of Metro bus riders do not pay a fare, according to WMATA, a dramatic increase from about 17 percent before the pandemic. The D.C. Council previously attempted to eliminate bus fares, but that law has been delayed amid pushback from Metro and Mayor Muriel Bowser. [Post]
• Attorney General Brian Schwalb, along with attorneys general in 13 states, is suing TikTok, calling the social media platform “digital nicotine.” Schwalb claims in the lawsuit that the platform is addictive and psychologically damaging for kids and misleads parents about safety on the app in order to generate profits. [WTOP, OAG]

By City Paper Staff (tips? editor@washingtoncitypaper.com)

• D.C. Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Lindsey Appiah says the city has completed its review of grants and contracts related to violence interruption programs (initiated in the wake of Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White’s bribery charges) and hasn’t found any additional wrongdoing. But people managing these programs told a Council committee that there still needs to be more city oversight and staffing for them to really succeed. [Post]
• D.C. Auditor Kathy Patterson is offering an anonymous survey to Metropolitan Police Department officers as she seeks help identifying cops who might have ties to white supremacist groups. An MPD lieutenant warned his subordinates against participating in it. [NBC Washington]
• Weeks after Mayor Bowser enraged lawmakers by telling them budget mistakes blew up plans to fund new housing vouchers, Council Chair Phil Mendelson is exploring ways to force the Department of Human Services to spend money on this rental assistance anyway. [Informer]

By Alex Koma (tips? akoma@washingtoncitypaper.com)

• The intimate, ’70s-inspired cocktail and record bar Cana opened in Adams Morgan in mid-September and reservations are already hard to come by. The 42-seat hot spot celebrates Brazilian fare from drinks to food—both of which are “relatively underrepresented stateside,” writes Tierney Plumb. [Eater]
• Trick or treat: There are plenty of Halloween and Día de Muertos-themed pop-ups popping up all over town this month. [City Cast]

By City Paper staff (tips? editor@washingtoncitypaper.com)