The problem with the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles processing DUI convictions could go back more than a decade, News4 has learned.
The problem allows people convicted of drunken driving to continue driving even though their licenses are supposed to be suspended or revoked.
It was uncovered after a D.C. woman was charged with second-degree murder in a drunken driving crash that killed three people on Rock Creek Parkway. She had five DUI convictions – three in DC – but never had her driving privileges taken from her, according to prosecutors and court records.
City officials blamed a processing error between the courts and the DMV.
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Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration launched a multiagency investigation in to how widespread the problem is.
A senior administration official close to the investigation said the problem could go back as far as 2010.
“That’s resulted in what is a significant amount of individuals in the same position as Ms. [Nakita] Walker, meaning that they are on the roads driving with convictions that have not been added to their record and their licenses have not been suspended,” said Joseph Davis, who works at the DMV and is vice president of the union.
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A spokesperson from the DMV said they suspended or revoked 112 licenses in fiscal year 2023 after 474 in 2022 and 380 in 2021. “That sounds like a drop in the bucket,” Davis said. “I think there is a significant amount more. That number to me seems extremely low.”
Davis said some DUI cases don’t get processed for as many as 10 years after the conviction.
“It is a regular occurrence that individuals will appear who have just recently had their DUI appear on their record and the DUI occurred 10 or more years ago,” Davis said based on his experience.
The DMV could not say how many of the license suspensions from the past three years were from D.C. court or out-of-state convictions. They say the problem only affects D.C. drivers convicted of DUI in the District as it stems from the automated communication between D.C. Superior Court and the DMV. Communication between states and D.C. is manual and done by mail.
A high-ranking Bowser administration official said to have a case get processed 10 years late is not common, but they are currently reviewing one case from 2010 that wasn’t enforced until sometime after 2019. Two officials involved in this acknowledged enforcing revocation so many years after conviction would be tough to do, and it may be on a case-by-case basis based on the person’s driving record since the conviction.
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