A man was killed in the District Friday night in a car crash that involved at least four vehicles, including one that had just been chased by the D.C. police, authorities said.

The crash was reported some time after 7:20 p.m. in the 4200 block of East Capitol Street. Little was immediately known about how it occurred, but police said the man who died was not in the car that they had at one time been pursuing.

The man was not immediately identified.

According to a preliminary police account, officers from the 1st Police District spotted a car that resembled one taken Monday in a carjacking/robbery.

The officers tried to stop the car, and when it did not stop, a pursuit began. The officers who were pursuing lost sight of the vehicle on East Capitol Street, police said.

Part of East Capitol is in the first police district, which includes Capitol Hill. In their initial accounts, police indicated that they did not know just where on East Capitol Street the officers lost sight of the car.

The eastern edge of the 1st District is about a mile from the crash site. A car leaving the 1st District at 60 mph and crossing the Whitney Young Memorial Bridge on East Capitol Street would require only about a minute to reach the site. Specifically, it was not known whether the 1st District officers had crossed the bridge before losing sight of the car.

Police chases have often been controversial, and Interim Police Chief Peter Newsham said at the scene Friday night that police would try to determine whether the pursuit had been carried out in accordance with D.C. police guidelines.