D.C. man arrested for killing trans teen charged with ‘road rage’ two years earlier Child cruelty, reckless driving offenses dropped by prosecutors in earlier case By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com
A D.C. man who was charged last week with fatally shooting an 18-year-old transgender woman outside a Mechanicville, Md., bar on March 24 while inside his car was arrested in an unrelated incident in D.C. in February 2021 for allegedly ramming his pickup truck into a car in an incident police attributed to “road rage.” Among the charges filed against him at that time was Attempted Second Degree Child Cruelty after D.C. police discovered his three-year-old child was sitting without a seatbelt in the passenger seat of the pickup truck he used to ram the other vehicle. The St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office announced last week that its deputies, with the support of D.C. police homicide detectives, had arrested that same man — Darryl Carlton Parks Jr. — in D.C. on a murder warrant for the shooting death of Tasiyah Woodland in a parking lot outside the Big Dogs in Paradise bar and grill after “some type of confrontation” occurred. The announcement said Parks has been charged with First-Degree Murder, Second-Degree Murder, Firearm Use/Felony-Violent Crime, Illegal Possession of a Regulated Firearm, and two counts of Reckless Endangerment from a Car. He was being held without bond in D.C. while awaiting extradition to St. Mary’s County. The Sheriff’s Office statement says investigators do not believe Woodland had been targeted for the murder because of her gender identity. But her family members have disputed
that claim, saying they believe the murder was a hate crime. In the earlier case in which Parks was arrested in D.C. on Feb. 21, 2021, court records show he had been charged with Aggravated Reckless Driving and Attempted Second Degree Child Cruelty. Charging documents filed in D.C. Superior Court stated that D.C. police officers witnessed Park intentionally ram a pickup truck he was driving into another car near the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and 2nd Street, N.W. while he was “engaged in a road rage.” An arrest affidavit filed in court says after Parks exited his truck when police arrived on the scene of the crash, one of the officers opened the passenger door and found Parks’ three-year-old child in the front passenger seat with no seat belt on and no child safety seat in the vehicle. One of the charging documents says the child cruelty charge was filed because “Parks did intentionally, knowingly and recklessly attempt to maltreat D.P., a child under 18 years of age, that is about 3 years of age, and attempt to engage in conduct causing a grave risk of bodily injury to D.P.” The charging document identifies the child only as D.P. Another charging document says there were four people in the car into which Parks allegedly rammed his truck, with one of them “sustaining injuries.” Court records show that prosecutors with the office
DARRYL CARLTON PARKS JR. was arrested in the case of a trans woman who was shot to death in Maryland. (Photo courtesy St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office)
of the U.S. Attorney for D.C. on several occasions requested a delay in the proceedings. On one occasion, on June 15, 2022, court records show the judge approved a motion by prosecutors for a “continuance” to delay proceedings due to a “Government Witness Availability Issue.” Finally, with no reason given, the court records show that on Sept. 26, 2022, Judge Kimberley Knowles dismissed the case at the request of prosecutors one day before a non-jury trial was scheduled to begin. “The United States of America, by and through its attorney, the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, hereby requests the Court to enter a nolle prosequi in the above-captioned matter,” a dismissal motion filed by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan Creighton and Elizabeth M. Van Haasteren says. “Nolle prosequi” is a Latin term used in U.S. court cases to disclose a refusal to prosecute or a cancellation of a prosecution. Patricia Hartman, a spokesperson for the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office, told the Washington Blade on Monday that the office never comments on its reasons for charging related decisions, including decisions to ask a judge to dismiss a case.
Arlington LGBTQ organization plans transition to Equality NoVa Longstanding group to officially expand coverage to Alexandria, Fairfax
The Arlington Gay and Lesbian Alliance, which was founded in 1981 and is the oldest continuously operating LGBTQ organization in Virginia, is officially expanding its mission and activities to the neighboring city of Alexandria and Fairfax County and is changing its name to Equality NoVa. A statement released last week by AGLA President Daniel L. Hays says the organization’s board of directors voted unanimously to begin operating as “AGLA now known as Equality NoVa,” with plans to transition in about five months to operating as “Equality NoVa formerly known as AGLA.” Hays told the Washington Blade that in about a year, following community engagement events, including a town hall meeting, the sole name of Equality NoVa will likely be adopted. At that time, Hays said, the group will change its longstanding registration with the IRS and the state of Virginia as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization to reflect the new name. “This decision was not made in haste, but rather in recognition of where LGBTQ+ organizations stand in Northern Virginia,” according to Hays’ statement released on March 25. “Since the organization’s found-
By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com
ing in 1981 it has helped to form similar groups in Alexandria and Fairfax County among others,” the statement continues. “The organizations in Alexandria (the Alexandria Gay & Lesbian Community Association) and Fairfax County (Equality Fairfax) over the past decade have ceased to operate due to a number of factors, including the inability to sustain active boards,” Hays’ statement says. “We have been going as the Arlington-Alexandria Gay and Lesbian Alliance for roughly 7 years to ensure Alexandria has had representation,” it says. “The 2023 board of directors wanted to make sure we are operating as we need to ensure coverage for Fairfax County, too,” Hays’ statement says. “Additionally, the 2023 board of directors recognized that the name we operate under needed updating to reflect the entirety of the LGBTQ+ community, not just only gays and lesbians. This was the basis for us now operating as Equality NoVa.” Hays told the Blade that the board’s plans include retaining the organization’s status as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that continues its longstanding three-part mission: “safe social activities; commu-
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nity service; and non-partisan political awareness.” He points out that under its current status, the group cannot endorse candidates running for public office and must remain as a nonpartisan group. Hays said that although IRS rules for 501(c)(3) organizations allow a limited degree of legislative lobbying, the group long ago decided not to engage in direct lobbying. “So, our approach has been to have town halls when issues come up to disseminate information to all of those individuals, including members who are on our mailing list, about the issues that are happening in Richmond or in D.C. on Capitol Hill,” he told the Blade. “And to not do explicit lobbying or policy advocacy, but to go the political awareness route,” he said, to enable people to “make their own decision as to whether they’re going to contact their representative or other decision-makers.” Hays’ statement says AGLA’s immediate past president, TJ Flavell, will continue to be involved through a newly formed Advisory Committee “focused on organizational sustainability and producing a planning blueprint for long-term success.”