Police identified a 66-year-old man as the alleged driver who crashed into a child’s front yard birthday party over the weekend in Bladensburg, Maryland, killing a woman and injuring 13 other people, including eight children.
The suspect, Joseph Sunday of Washington, D.C., was arrested Monday, according to the Bladensburg Police Department.
Sunday was charged with two counts of negligent homicide by vehicle and failure to remain at the scene of an accident where a death occurred, according to the police department.
Crime scene tape was left in front of a Bladensburg, Maryland, home where a hit-and-run accident on Oct. 18, 2025, left one person dead and 13 others injured at a child’s birthday party.
WJLA
The accident occurred around 10 p.m. Saturday when a car driving in reverse in a residential neighborhood in Bladensburg crashed into a crowd gathered in the front yard of a home for a child’s birthday party, according to police.
The vehicle crashed into a tent set up on the grass, police said. The driver jumped out of the car and fled the scene, but later surrendered to police, authorities said.
What caused the driver to crash into the party remains under investigation, including whether the suspect was intoxicated at the time of the crash, according to Bladensburg Police officials.
It was unclear Tuesday whether Sunday had retained an attorney.
The woman who died in the crash was identified by police as Ashley Hernandez Gutierrez, 31, of Washington, DC.
According to police, five adults and eight children, ranging in age from 1 to 17, were hospitalized with injuries. A girl and a toddler were initially treated for critical injuries, according to the Prince George’s County Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department.
During a news conference Monday, Bladensburg Interim Police Chief Daniel Frishkorn said three victims, a child and two adults, remained hospitalized.
