Talk about a ratings boost. Washington Nationals manager Matt Williams was in the middle of giving his weekly interview on a local sports radio show — apparently, while he was driving — when he was struck from behind by another vehicle.
Listeners of 106.7 The Fan’s Sports Junkies were then treated to the play-by-play of the hit-and-run that ensued, with real-time relay of the police response.
“Sorry guys, I just had an accident,” Williams said, right in the middle of explaining the recent hitting slump of shortstop Ian Desmond, a local CBS affiliate reported. “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 surmised police had apparently been chasing the vehicle before it hit his Chevy Tahoe.
He went on, to a likely breathless radio audience: “There was a police car behind me and a guy in a car and he tried to get by me and just smoked me. I’m almost to the ballpark. He tried to get out of his car and then he got around me [in his car] and now they’re chasing him.”
Williams was supposed to be at Nationals Park for the 1:05 p.m. game, but his vehicle was wrecked in the incident.
“My rear end is gone now,” he said. “The cops are gone, they’re chasing him. … That’s the strangest thing I’ve ever been a part of right there. The guy behind me was trying to get out of his car, they had him wedged in. And then he got around me, he hit another car going by him. … We’ve got a helicopter overhead right now. Unbelievable. That’s unbelievable.”
Williams took a short pause.
And then: “So what about baseball?”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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