DC delivery drivers and activists honor man killed during Park Police chase

D.C. delivery drivers, members of an activist group and loved ones honored a bystander killed during a U.S. Park Police chase – and called for answers and change.

A crowd stopped during dinner time Wednesday — many of them people who make their living driving through traffic in all kinds of weather to deliver food — to mourn one of their own.

Nolberto Meza was hit and killed by a driver who was trying to get away from U.S. Park Police on the Taft Bridge in Northwest D.C. on Saturday.

The mourners arranged their mopeds and motorbikes on the bridge on Wednesday in an honor formation for Meza.

Many knew him. They all shared his daily reality of long hours making app-based food deliveries in blistering heat, rain and snowstorms.

The flowers they placed in the Taft Bridge fencing were tributes to Meza. The 46-year-old was hit and killed at that spot while making a delivery. Police said an officer with U.S. Park Police tried to stop a stolen vehicle on Rock Creek Parkway and chased the car until it crashed into Meza's moped on the bridge.

Members of the DC Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression marched across the bridge to join the delivery drivers. Meza was the second person killed since U.S. Park Police loosened their pursuit policies after the Trump administration's federal law enforcement surge began last August.

“We say that no matter what happened, Park Police had no right to chase them cars through this whole crowded neighborhood, putting all these people in danger,” Merawi Gerima said.

"Send these killer cops to jail!" someone in the group shouted as people marched across the bridge.

News4 asked U.S. Park Police if they plan to review their pursuit policy but has not heard back.

Meza's family learned only Monday that the U.S. attorney's office dropped charges against the men in the stolen car, saying they did not have all the facts and evidence to make charging decisions. It’s caused more grief, said his niece, Veronica, who spoke with News4 in Spanish.

She is trying to raise money to help her uncle's partner return his body for burial in Venezuela.

The family says Meza entered the U.S. through what's known as the CPB One program and had a court date in January to hear his claim of asylum.

His niece was visibly moved by the outpouring from her uncle's fellow delivery drivers – expressions of support, human dignity and love on the Taft Bridge.

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