A 25-year-old woman was struck and killed while crossing West Northwest Highway in Dallas on the night of March 15, 2025. Atianna Washington was hit by a black Cadillac as she crossed the roadway outside a marked crosswalk in a dimly lit stretch of the highway. The vehicle was being driven by Jaime Castro, who was then president of the Dallas Police Association, though he initially told responding officers that his fiancée had been behind the wheel. Washington was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
According to The Dallas Morning News, the Dallas Police Department disciplined six officers in September 2026 after an internal review found the on-scene investigation was mishandled, including a failure to conduct field sobriety testing despite the smell of alcohol and allegations that officers gave Castro preferential treatment. Sgt. Cynthia Arispe-Shivers received the harshest punishment, an eight-day suspension, while other officers received shorter suspensions, a written reprimand or supervisor’s reports. Castro pleaded guilty in March 2026 to making a false statement to police, and his fiancée, Angela Valles, pleaded guilty to falsely claiming she had been driving. Washington’s mother has since filed a wrongful-death lawsuit, with a trial reportedly scheduled for June 2027.
