Maryland-National Capital Park Police helped a driver whose car was stuck in a muddy ditch off the Capital Crescent Trail in Bethesda Sunday morning.
Park Police spokesperson Rick Pelicano said the woman, who had trouble speaking English and “was completely bamboozled,” but not drunk, indicated to police that she was returning home from a party Saturday night when her GPS system took her onto the trail—a pedestrian- and bicyclist-only path that runs through Bethesda and into Washington, D.C.
A trail user who saw police assisting the woman Sunday morning told Bethesda Beat the car appeared stuck just off the trail near its access point from the Fort Sumner neighborhood.
The vehicle reportedly was found stuck in mud just off the Capital Crescent Trail near Westmoreland Hills Park.
Pelicano said officers aren’t sure, but they believe the woman drove onto the trail as it crosses River Road, which would mean she drove at least a mile on the trail, which is surrounded by woods and streams in that section.
Pelicano said U.S. Park Police first discovered the woman and her vehicle early Sunday morning and called the Maryland-National Capital Park Police at 8 a.m. because the driver had a Maryland license plate. It’s unclear how long the driver was stuck in the location.
Pelicano said it took officers hours to get the vehicle out and they eventually had to call a tow truck to the location.
Officers issued the driver a ticket for operating a vehicle where prohibited.
