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Matt Williams Unfazed by Car Crash During Radio Interview

The Nationals manager's car was struck by a vehicle being chased by police.
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Matt Williams Unfazed by Car Crash During Radio Interview
Williams. Photograph by Flickr user Scott Ableman.

Just how tough is Matt Williams? The Nationals’ first-year manager got caught up in a police chase on his way to Nationals Park this morning and didn’t let a collision that tore off the rear end of his sport-utility vehicle derail his call-in to a local radio show.

Williams was making his weekly call to 106.7 The Fan’s Sports Junkies about 8 AM when his car was struck by a vehicle being pursued by Metropolitan Police Department officers. The conversation veered away from baseball, but Williams didn’t miss a beat.

“Sorry guys, I just had an accident,” Williams told the Junkies. “I’ve got a police officer behind me. This guy’s gonna try to escape. The guy’s running. He just ran right into the back of me. I just got rear-ended by a guy in a car. Hold on. This guy’s crashing into people.”

Williams said he was unharmed as the suspect driving the stolen car peeled off, but the crash sheared off the tail of his Chevrolet Tahoe.

“We’ve got a helicopter overhead right now,” Williams said. “Unbelievable. That’s unbelievable. So, what about baseball?”

MPD spokeswoman Saray Leon could not confirm that a car chase Wednesday morning on South Capitol Street—which runs by Nationals Park—left Williams’s car in tatters, but she did say a pursuit shortly after 8 AM down the busy roadway included the department’s helicopter, Falcon One. The driver of the stolen car, an adult male, struck several vehicles during the chase before finally coming to a stop at Firth Sterling Avenue, Southeast, where he bailed out and was arrested.

Here’s audio, via the Post’s DC Sports Bog, of Williams’s part in the police chase, from his unfazed reaction to the collision to turning his interview back toward Jayson Werth’s impressive .394 on-base percentage.

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Staff Writer

Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.