News

County will have to pay more for sewer project to handle NPS, VDOT permitting and traffic

By Jo DeVoe
1/8

A sewer repair company put a price on dealing with federal and state agency permitting processes and working on high-traffic roadways.

That price tag is just over $2.6 million.

Arlington County is poised to pay that extra sum, conceding that the location of the project in question presents “unique challenges.”

To repair an “essential part” of the county’s sanitary sewer system — dubbed the Spout Run Deep Sewer Line — the selected contractor, AM-Liner East, will have to navigate distinct permitting processes and regulations for the National Park Service and the Virginia Dept. of Transportation.

This pipe carries “a significant amount of flow” from federally protected land, and along Langston Blvd and I-66, with the pipe reaching depths up to 115 feet below ground, according to the county.

After getting permission from NPS to work on protected parkland, the contractor will seek state permission once it hits I-66. It will be working on a narrow median and shoulder of I-66 and multiple travel lanes in both directions on Langston Blvd.

“It is believed that the bidders perceived significantly more risk in these bid items, which County staff consider fair given the unique challenges of this project area,” per the report.

For these reasons, AM-Liner East — the lowest responsible bidder — still exceeded expected project costs of $5.3 million. The Arlington County Board is scheduled to approve a $7.9 million contract, plus a $1.2 million contingency “for change orders or increased quantities,” at its upcoming Saturday meeting.

The proposed project generated what the county described as significant interest from nine contractors specializing in trenchless sewer rehabilitation. Only two bid on the project, however — a testament to its perceived challenges.

“For the work on federal lands and in VDOT right-of-way, the contractor will have to comply with restrictive NPS and VDOT permit requirements, respectively, and perform all restoration as per each agency’s specifications, which differ greatly from each other and from the County’s specifications,” the report said.

Arlington County says it identified this 86-year-old sewer line for repair in 2019 after a video inspection “revealed corrosion of the concrete pipe, indicated by exposed aggregate, exposed reinforcing steel, infiltration at the pipe joints, and small cracks.”

The project is part of the county’s program to rehabilitate critical large sewers, which are part of Arlington’s 465-mile sanitary sewage system. This project will start at Spout Run, north of the N. Courthouse Road cul-de-sac and end at N. Nash Street.

“This intricate network exists to make sure that the wastewater that gets flushed every day from homes and businesses makes its way to the Water Pollution Control Plant where it’s properly cleaned and treated before being recycled back into the environment,” the project webpage says.

For this project, AM-Liner East will use a trenchless technology known as cured-in-place pipe lining, which is seen as a relatively quick way to fix pipes with little or no digging involved.

A flexible liner is inserted into the pipe, inflated and exposed to heat or ultraviolet light to harden it and create a new, smooth surface inside.

To ensure this is done without disrupting existing flow, the contractor will install a temporary bypass. The bypass will be above-ground through residential grass areas along N. Uhle St, the Custis Trail and one lane of Langston Blvd. It will go underground near street crossings, such as at N. Scott, N. Quinn and N. Nash streets.

How the trenchless pipe repair technology ‘cured-in-place-piping’ works (via Arlington County)

W-L athletes and fans get royal treatment with new temporary toilets from Maryland startup Throne

By Jo DeVoe
1/5

The fields at Washington-Liberty High School have new temporary toilets for baseball players, softball players and spectators.

These are not run-of-the-mill port-a-johns, either. The facilities, developed by D.C.-area startup Throne, give users the royal treatment with running water for flushing and hand-washing. Users simply text a phone number to gain entry and provide a cleanliness rating via text after they use it.

Kevin Healy, the assistant director of student activities at Washington-Liberty, credited a parent for making the partnership possible and Throne for loaning them for free through the end of May.

“We were just lucky we had parents looking into it who found the set-up for us,” he said. “The company was very cool about it.”

Healy says having a toilet near the baseball and softball fields is a big improvement for players, coaches and spectators.

“Typically, we’ll get one port-a-john during the season. Outside that, we have to go to the library to use any kind of facility,” he said. “We do have a port-a-john that the county put in place, but if you have a well-attended game [and] if you’re in the middle of a game… you don’t want to miss time jogging over in a ‘crisis situation’ to go in the building.”

Softball players often wind up having to go all the way to the W-L pool to find a bathroom, he said.

Located in Brentwood, Md., Throne aims to solve a handful of problems with bathroom access in the U.S.: quantity, cost, cleanliness and accessibility.

“Our co-founding team is passionate about expanding access to bathrooms,” co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Jess Heinzelman told ARLnow.

It can be expensive for municipalities to connect to water and sewer for brick-and-mortar bathrooms, which is why there can be access issues at school fields and parks, Heinzelman said. Cleaning them can be a headache, she added, because “a few bad apples ruin publicly accessible bathrooms for everybody.”

Throne considers the easiest alternative, port-a-johns, a “last resort” because they can be hard to find, locked and unpleasant.

“We set out with goal to drastically reduce costs while also using new technologies available to help introduce accountability to bathroom use without being creepy,” she said.

It takes a few hours to install a Throne, which uses solar power and rainwater catchment to provide running water for flushing and hand-washing. Smart sensors monitor use rates and maintenance needs and the company’s technology makes it possible to restrict access for people who vandalize the units or degrade their cleanliness.

Throne has built and tested out its toilets across the D.C. area over the last 2.5 years and has developed a step-up model, as well as one accessible for people with disabilities. The startup is readying for a commercial launch this spring, meaning people will see more installed in the District, the City of Fairfax and elsewhere.

Heinzelman said it was an easy decision to let W-L use the facilities. Its accessible units are in high-demand and the company had two unused step-up units that needed a home.

“We’re really excited to have them getting used,” Heinzelman said. “The student athletes seem to be liking them.”

Some may recognize the free-standing facility from the REEF Kitchen trailers near the Whole Foods in Clarendon. This was the startup’s first-ever pilot potty, serving the staff of the ghost kitchens, who cook food for delivery-only on platforms like Grubhub, as well as delivery drivers.

“Gig drivers are one of the major groups that has trouble finding restrooms because they’re working from their car and they’re not allowed to use the bathrooms of restaurants or places that they’re picking up from,” Heinzelman said.

A Throne toilet trailer near the REEF Kitchens trailers in Clarendon (staff photo)

A ruse to smuggle drugs into Arlington jail caught an employee of the Public Defender’s Office in its crosshairs

By Jo DeVoe
Jail entrance at the Arlington County Detention Facility (file photo)

An employee of the Arlington County Public Defender’s Office appears to have been duped into smuggling drugs into the local jail.

An apparent misunderstanding over recent changes to the delivery of personal mail could have contributed to the advocate’s arrest, according to her boss, Chief Public Defender Brad Haywood.

Last month, a 32-year-old woman was arrested and charged with unauthorized delivery in jail in connection with an offense that allegedly occurred in mid-February, per court records. The employee reportedly delivered papers to the jail in her capacity as an investigator for the Public Defender’s Office, but the papers — unbeknownst to her — had been soaked in drugs. The delivery also circumvented a new jail policy.

The case was transferred to the Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney to prosecute.

“We had to get a special prosecutor for that because of a potential conflict of interest,” Arlington County Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti said. “Loudoun handled that and it would be inappropriate for me to have been involved in the decision making.”

Two sources confirmed to ARLnow that the court quickly granted a prosecutor’s motion to dismiss the charges. This was done on the grounds that she lacked knowledge that she delivered contraband to the jail. Loudoun’s Commonwealth’s Attorney did not respond to requests for comment before publication time.

Charges are still pending for another woman in connection to this case. Cassandra Bertrand, 30, was arrested and charged with the distribution of and conspiracy to distribute Schedule I/II drugs. She is also charged with two counts of delivering drugs to a prisoner.

When asked about this case, a spokeswoman for the Arlington County Sheriff’s Office, which oversees the jail, provided the names and charges for the two defendants but declined to comment further.

“To ensure the integrity of the ongoing criminal investigation and prosecution, additional details are not available for release,” spokeswoman Amy Meehan said.

Closing the mail drug smuggling loophole

Like detention facilities around the country, the Arlington County Detention Facility is combatting a relatively new way of smuggling drugs inside: mail.

Personal correspondence is dipped in or sprayed with a synthetic drug and sent to the inmate, who smokes it or tears up the paper and sells bits to others.

This method has been around for several years, per a 2016 Washington Post article, but a recent spate of such smuggling attempts have received media attention this year. There were instances in Chicago, in Massachusetts and on Riker’s Island in New York City, where love letters and cards from children were soaked in fentanyl.

In the Arlington case, law enforcement sources tell ARLnow the letter was coated in a synthetic cannabinoid called nicknamed “K2” or “Spice.” The chemical name, ADB-Butinaca, is identified by the Drug Enforcement Agency as a Schedule I drug.

“The jail is aware this is a new trend and as of February 1st, we use a third-party digital mail center to scan all incoming, personal mail which is then forwarded to the inmates’ tablets,” Meehan said.

Per a notice she shared with ARLnow, all mail addressed to inmates must be sent to a post office box in Missouri. The policy for legal mail, however, has not changed.

Legal mail is a broad category that can encompass papers that — to the Sheriff’s Office — look an awful lot like personal mail. In this case, printed copies of photos were shared with the client because they would be entered into the record in the inmate’s upcoming court appearances.

The photos, which are called “mitigation materials” in the legal community, are intended to humanize the person facing a potential sentence. But it may not have looked that way to the Sheriff’s Office.

(more…)

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
Riding a bike along the Bluemont Junction Trail on a warm spring day (Flickr pool photo by Tom Mockler)

More New Stuff Coming to DCA — “Today, Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport announced a new slate of concessions… At DCA, you’ll soon be able to fuel up on coffee at Compass or Zeke’s, or grab a pint from Atlas Brew Works.” [Washingtonian, Twitter]

High Speed Chase on I-66 — “Watch: Tonight’s @VSPPIO chase was from Sycamore to DC (where chase was called off) on I-66E just before 10p. Infiniti with expired tags. Speeds 110 mph.” [Twitter]

Ungentlemanly Conduct Near Crystal City Restaurant — “400 block of 23rd Street S. At approximately 4:22 p.m. on April 18… The suspect became involved in a dispute with an employee of a business regarding payment, during which the suspect allegedly implied he had a weapon before exiting the business. The suspect then returned to the business, stole a beverage, exited and threw it against the window. No injuries were reported.” [ACPD]

Beyer Warns of Passport Delays — “‘The D.C. passport office, where we channel passport requests for Northern Virginians, has a significant backlog in passport renewals,’ U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-8th) said in a recent missive to constituents. ‘They are not accepting casework requests from congressional offices at this time, which means that my office is not able to request assistance with passport renewals.'” [GazetteLeader]

Earth Day Events in Arlington — “There are plenty of ways to observe Earth Day, from parades and parties to cleanups, rallies and workshops. Here’s what’s going on in Arlington.” [Patch]

Millennial Homeownership Stats — “Washington’s home-ownership rate among Millennials stands at 45 percent  compared to the national average of 51.5 percent, according to the data. Millennials trail Generation X (69.7 percent of whom own homes), while both Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation that preceded them each have rates of more than 75 percent.” [GazetteLeader]

New Restaurant in F.C. — “A new restaurant has taken flight in Falls Church City, and it’s got instant cred. Ellie Bird opens at Founders Row on April 14 with a whimsical dining room, inventive entrees, kid-friendly cuisine and cleverly named cocktails. It’s the second venture for Falls Church residents Carey and Yuan Tang, who also own the Michelin-starred fine dining establishment Rooster & Owl on 14th Street in the District.” [Arlington Magazine]

Potomac Yard Station Opening Soon — “After more than a year of delays, the Potomac Yard Metro Station will open on Friday, May 19… The $370 million project has seen its share of delays. It was initially scheduled to open in April 2022.” [ALXnow]

It’s Thursday — Mostly sunny. Pleasantly warm. High of 87 and low of 50. Sunrise at 6:25 am and sunset at 7:50 pm. [Weather.gov]

Flickr pool photo by Tom Mockler

If someone nukes D.C., equipment in Arlington will help figure out who did it

By ARLnow.com
D.C. skyline view from the rooftop of the Bartlett in Pentagon City (staff photo)

The prospect of a nuclear bomb going off in the D.C. area is something that will hopefully remain in the realm of fiction.

Should the proverbial sum of all fears play out, however, equipment in Arlington will help the federal government manage the response.

A broad overview of the system — installed on county-owned property since 2016 — is included in an item on the Arlington County Board’s meeting agenda for this coming Saturday.

Details are not provided, and are said to be exempt from release under the Freedom of Information Act, but a letter from an Air Force official included in a Board report says the system will aid in the investigation and the emergency response after any such explosion.

This system is designed to characterize nuclear explosions in urban environments. In the event of an intentional detonation such as a terrorist attack, information generated by the system is critical for the Federal Government’s efforts to determine who was responsible for and how to respond to the event. The information will be used to support law enforcement prosecution efforts and will be shared with the consequence management community as applicable (e.g. to contribute to damage assessments). However, the full disclosure of the location of our equipment, and information regarding its components and operations, would jeopardize the ability for the system to provide valuable information in a timely fashion to the law enforcement and consequence management communities, by giving insight into the system’s design and coverage, and possibly how to defeat the system.

Therefore, we request that our work with Arlington County on this project, including the Agreement and supporting documentation, be exempted from public disclosure under Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act per Va. Code Section 2-2.3705.2, subsection 14 (plans and information to prevent or respond to terrorist activity or cyber-attacks, the disclosure of which would jeopardize the safety of any person). Supporting documentation includes, but is not limited to: program descriptions, what equipment is sited on Arlington County property and where, and details about the equipment (e.g. function, operations, engineering drawings).

The item is on the Board’s agenda this weekend because management of the system is being transferred from the Fort Belvoir-based Defense Threat Reduction Agency to the Florida-based Air Force Technical Applications Center.

Both military agencies have responsibilities related to nuclear deterrence and monitoring.

Plans to turn Reeves Farmhouse into group home head to Historic Affairs board

By Jo DeVoe
1/12

(Updated at 4:50 p.m.) After a pandemic-era hiatus, Habitat for Humanity has revived plans to turn a county-owned historic farmhouse into a group home.

Habitat DC-NOVA and HomeAid National Capital Region are propose to restore the exterior of the Reeves Farmhouse in the Bluemont neighborhood, modernize and renovate the interior, construct two new, historically compatible additions and update the landscaping.

The public would still be able to use two acres of parkland around it, including a milk shed, sledding hill and the Reevesland Learning Center gardens.

The nonprofits will be meeting with the Historic Affairs and Landmark Review Board tonight (Wednesday) to discuss plans for the home, which is more than 100 years old. Given the home’s local historic district designation, this board has the authority to review and approve major alterations, per a county report.

The farmhouse sits on the Reevesland property, notable for being the last operating dairy farm in Arlington County before closing in 1955. The local historic designation of the farmhouse and milk shed , from 2004, recognizes the property’s “architectural history and association with the rural and agricultural history of Arlington,” the report said.

“The Reevesland farmhouse is a two-story building with a stone foundation,” the report says. “The wood framing remains as underlying physical evidence of a number of additions and remodeling undertaken over more than 100 years, with the major changes occurring from 1878 to 1911.”

Arlington County purchased Reevesland in 2001 and began searching for appropriate uses for the “endangered” historic place in 2010, putting forth requests for proposals that never led anywhere. During these doldrums, some community groups suggested the county turn the property into a museum or learning center.

High renovation costs convinced the Board to move toward selling it in March 2017, despite some community opposition. Two months later, Habitat came to Arlington County with an unsolicited proposal to reuse the farmhouse for a group home for people with developmental disabilities.

It took three years, but the county and Habitat reached a non-binding letter of intent. One month after that was signed, the nation shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic and the project stalled.

Talks among the nonprofits and L’Arche Greater Washington — which will use the facilities for their core member program — and county staff about the project resumed in September 2022. DPR met with the Boulevard Manor Civic Association in January to provide an update on the project, a neighbor and a spokeswoman for Habitat told ARLnow after publication.

Plans include a two-story addition at the back of the house and a one-story addition at on the southwest side. These will increase the number of bedrooms to seven and provide access and gathering spaces suitable for people with mobility impairments.

A paved area west of the farmhouse will be expanded to provide parking and clearance for Metro Access vans that will provide transportation for future residents. It will also build a stormwater management bio-facility, which could be something like a rain garden.

A tree near the proposed two-story addition will be removed as the addition will conflict with some roots that are critical to its health. Habitat will discuss ways to mitigate this loss with the county’s Urban Forester.

In the county report, Historic Preservation Program staff say they support the project because the addition will be distinct from the historic structure and the landscaping changes will not harm the property’s setting.

“The proposed one- and two-story additions will not detract from the scale or massing of the historic farmhouse, as their designs are compatible with the existing vernacular architecture and can be distinguished from what is historic and new construction,” per a county report.

County Board to vote this weekend on contract to build Shirlington pedestrian bridge

By Matt Blitz
1/2

The County Board is set to vote this weekend on a contract to build a long-awaited pedestrian bridge.

On Saturday, it is expected that the Arlington County Board will approve a $1.6 million contract to construct the Shirlington Road Pedestrian Bridge. The 15-foot-wide prefabricated steel bridge will run the length of Four Mile Run and parallel to the road with the purpose of providing safer bicycle and pedestrian access.

It will connect Shirlington and S. Arlington Mill Drive to Jennie Dean Park and the Green Valley neighborhood. It will also serve local users of the heavily-used Four Mile Run and W&OD trails nearby.

Work on the bridge could begin in the second half of this year if the contract is approved over the weekend, Arlington Dept. of Environmental Services spokesperson Claudia Pors told ARLnow. That would mean a completion date in mid to late 2024.

“The existing Shirlington Road vehicular bridge primarily funnels vehicles to/from I-395 and lacks safe, comprehensive accommodations for pedestrians and bicyclists traveling through this area,” the report to the Board says.

“This project will provide a key missing link in the County’s bicycle network by providing a north-south protected bicycle facility that will link up with the existing Four Mile Run Trail along South Arlington Mill Drive to the west and along Four Mile Run in the City of Alexandria to the east of the bridge,” the report adds.

The bridge has been under discussion for two decades and has been the topic of conversation among county staff and the public for years.

It will be constructed in two parts, per Pors. First, the span will be built offsite, a process that will take about nine months, while abutments will be added at S. Arlington Mill Drive and Jennie Dean Park where each end of the bridge will go. Around this time, the bridge’s walls will be built and the sidewalk and crosswalk at S. Arlington Mill Drive will be shuttered. Bike and pedestrian traffic will be detoured.

The bridge, then, will be lifted by a crane and installed.

“It’s possible that lanes on the existing bridge will close to accommodate this installation, and the public would be given notice of any detours,” Pors noted.

New street lighting on each end of the bridge will be installed as well, plus median, sidewalk and crosswalk retrofits. A new Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon will be installed in the median as well.

The work is set to be done by D.C.-based Milani Construction, whose $1.38 million bid (plus $277,000 in contingency costs) actually came in under the county engineer’s estimated construction cost.

Last year, work was completed on the parallel vehicle bridge on Shirlington Road. That included resurfacing, routine maintenance, widening the sidewalk by several feet on the west side of the bridge, widening curb ramps, and adding a median at the mid-block crosswalk near 27th Street S.

A number of these improvements came as a result of public feedback.

Additionally, the county is set to study the feasibility of adding another crossing at the intersection of S. Arlington Mill Drive and Shirlington Road.

“County staff have begun study efforts and anticipate reaching out to the public for input this fall,” Pors said.

Completion of Fire Station 8 delayed seven months due to permitting delays

By Jo DeVoe
1/2

Construction on the new Fire Station 8 on Langston Blvd is halfway done but experiencing delays, partly attributed to the county’s own permitting process.

The project at 4845 Langston Blvd, where the old station used to be, is about seven months behind schedule and is now expected to wrap up by January 2024.

Firefighters are operating out of a temporary station at 2217 N. Culpeper Street, just behind the construction site.

This weekend, the Arlington County Board is set to review a request to tack on another $510,000 to its roughly $1.6 million contract with an architecture firm, FGM Architects, to continue providing design and construction administration services.

The total revised budget for the project remains the same, at $27.92 million, given a $2.1 million county-held contingency that’s being used for the overages.

The contractor overseeing construction, MCN Build, agreed to build Fire Station 8 for a guaranteed maximum price of $16,878,504 as the construction manager at risk — meaning it is financially responsible if the project is over-budget.

A staff report says the half-million dollar contract increase is needed for extended construction administrative services because permitting delays have caused the project to fall behind.

Arlington County has transitioned all of its permits online to the Permit Arlington system. Some local home builders previously told ARLnow they are waiting longer for project approval as a result.

Per the staff report, additional administrative and design expertise is also needed to plan for site-related design changes, including realigning a traffic signal, and for inspection and testing services.

“This request… is required for extended construction administrative services to complete the project, including items such as civil coordination with Dominion Energy, Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan close-out, and other building commissioning support services,” the report says.

Arlington County first used the construction manager at risk model for the Lubber Run Community Center project. Since then it has been used for Jennie Dean Park, which opened nearly a year ago, and the under-construction ART Operations and Maintenance facility.

“This delivery method can better control the project costs and schedule by allowing early builder input on costs, schedule, value, and quality and collaboration with the architect-engineering firm,” the county said in a previous report explaining the terms of the contract with MCN Build.

A more common approach in which a project is fully designed and the contractor with the lowest, responsible bid is awarded the project can result in delayed delivery if, for instance, bids come in over-budget and the whole project has to be redesigned and rebid, the report said.

Involving MCN Build Inc. as design and construction drawings evolved helped those working on the project identify issues early on and address them, the county previously said.

The fire station project has faced other challenges not related to permitting. In February injured workers were rescued by the fire department after their lift made contact with power lines.

County Board and prosecutor candidates Roy and Katcher lead campaign fundraising so far

By Jo DeVoe
A campaign sign for Arlington County Board candidate Natalie Roy with other candidate signs in the background (staff photo)

(Updated at 12:10 p.m.) Two candidates have emerged as top fundraisers ahead of this year’s Democratic primary: Natalie Roy for Arlington County Board and Josh Katcher for Commonwealth’s Attorney.

That’s according to newly-filed quarterly campaign financial reports.

The six candidates for County Board, two for Commonwealth’s Attorney and three for Sheriff will run in a primary on June 20 to determine the local party’s nominees headed to the general election. The Arlington County Democratic Committee will hold a caucus in May to endorse a School Board candidate.

In statements, Roy and Katcher said the numbers show their message resonates with people who do not feel heard or are concerned with the direction Arlington is headed — whether on housing and community engagement or on prosecutorial reforms.

Roy, a realtor noted for getting around on bicycle, kicked off her campaign by expressing misgivings with the zoning ordinance changes known as Missing Middle, which passed in March. She instead suggested other solutions — such as turning the vacant, condemned Key Bridge Marriott into housing and county amenities.

She comes in first at $51,237, followed by former Arlington NAACP branch president Julius “JD” Spain, $48,032, and businessman Tony Weaver, $46,087.

While Roy has the most donations over $100, her campaign highlighted that 80% of donors were Arlington voters and 80% donated less than $250.

Donations above and below $100 to Arlington County Board candidates (chart by Jo DeVoe)

“This shows both strong grassroots and widespread community support, a sign that Natalie’s message has been resonating with Arlington voters who feel like their voice has not been heard in recent years,” per a statement she released on Tuesday.

“From hosting small meet & greets in their living rooms, to knocking doors, to donating, their strong and steady support has made it possible for me to do the best part of a campaign — meeting with and hearing from Arlingtonians across the county,” Roy continued.

With $105,526 raised and more than $90,000 spent, Katcher — who worked as a prosecutor under Theo Stamos and his now-opponent, incumbent Parisa Dehghani-Tafti — outraised and outspent his former boss.

“Ours is the people’s campaign, and once again the Arlington and Falls Church City communities have stepped up and proven that,” he said in a statement. “Since I kicked off my campaign in November, we have surpassed our fundraising targets — twice. Thank you to all the supporters who have helped make this possible.”

2023 fundraising vs. expenses for Commonwealth’s Attorney race (chart by Jo DeVoe)

Katcher’s campaign said all his support is derived from individuals. Per the nonprofit Virginia Public Access Project, which compiles campaign reports, some 400 people have donated to his campaign. Dehghani-Tafti has received donations through some 150 individual contributions in addition to three PACs.

The largest of these is an in-kind donation of $8,000 from Justice and Public Safety PAC, a PAC funded by George Soros. The billionaire philanthropist donated millions to the PAC, supporting dozens of progressive prosecutor candidates in the U.S., including several hundred thousand dollars in cash and services to Dehghani-Tafti’s successful 2019 campaign.

(more…)

UPDATED: Two arrested trying to swim to freedom after car chase, crash and foot chase

By ARLnow.com
Virginia State Police cruiser in Arlington (staff photo)

Two suspects led authorities on a three-hour-long pursuit by land and by water overnight.

The chase started around 1 a.m. in Crystal City, when a Virginia State Police trooper spotted a car with improper tags, which then fled from an attempted traffic stop. The chase made its way onto I-395 near the Pentagon, where the suspect’s car struck a police cruiser, according to Virginia State Police, after which the suspects fled on foot, chased by troopers.

The suspects ran toward Long Bridge Drive and eventually reached Roaches Run, where “the two subjects jumped into the water and began swimming” toward the GW Parkway, said VSP. A perimeter was established around the area and both the Fairfax County police and U.S. Park Police helicopters were called in to assist with the search for the suspects, who were by then trying to hide.

Arlington police and Park Police assisted on the ground during the incident.

Eventually, the suspects were spotted and, at 2:30 a.m., the Arlington County Fire Department’s water rescue team was dispatched to Roaches Run. The suspects were suffering from exposure to the cold water and were taken to a local hospital after being taken into custody by state troopers on an ACFD boat just before 4 a.m.

Update on 4/21/23 — Virginia State Police have released the following update on the investigation into Wednesday’s early morning chase, naming a male suspect who is now facing charges. A second, female vehicle occupant is so far not reported to be facing charges.

At approximately 12:59 a.m. Wednesday (April 19), a Virginia State Police Trooper alerted to a two-door Chrysler displaying improper registration (wrong license plates). When the trooper activated his emergency lights and sirens to attempt a traffic stop at 18th St. and S. Crystal Dr., the Chrysler refused to stop and sped away. A pursuit was initiated. The pursuit continued north on I-395 at which time state police attempted to contain the Chrysler as it was traveling on the right shoulder. The Chrysler struck one of the trooper’s vehicles, which caused both vehicles to spin around and collide a second time. The driver and passenger of the Chrysler then fled the scene on foot. With the assistance of Arlington County Police and Fairfax County Police resources, a search perimeter was established.

At approximately 1:55 a.m., troopers spotted the two subjects hiding near Roaches Run. As the troopers approached, the two subjects jumped into the water and began swimming across Roaches Run towards the GW Parkway. The U.S. Park Police responded to assist state police as the two subjects hid in the water to avoid detection and arrest.

Arlington County Fire and Rescue deployed its water rescue team and an adult male and a 23-year-old female were located and taken into custody without further incident. They were both transported to a nearby hospital for treatment due to their exposure to the cold water temperatures.

Bryant R. Mayo, 26, of Washington, DC, was charged with one felony count of eluding law enforcement and one felony charge of leaving the scene of a crash.

The incident remains under investigation.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
Charcuterie and tulips, for the ‘gram. Near the Netherlands Carillon in the Roslyn area. (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Presidential Campaign Speech in Arlington — “Nikki Haley to make the first speech about abortion by any of the 2024 GOP presidential contenders,” on Tuesday, April 25 in Arlington. [Twitter]

Prosecutor Reiterates Abortion Position — From Arlington and Falls Church Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti: “Why? Why Arlington? There’s no point coming here @NikkiHaley. As long as I’m CA, Arlington will not prosecute people and their doctors for abortion care.” [Twitter]

Hope Minimum Wage Bill Passes — “A measure, patroned by Del. Patrick Hope (D-Arlington), to end a 1940s-era measure allowing those employing workers with disabilities to pay less than the minimum wage, is headed into law. Both houses of the legislature on April 12 agreed to recommendations made by the Youngkin administration on the bill. Final votes were 96-0 in the House of Delegates and 40-0 in the state Senate.” [GazetteLeader]

Warner’s Local News Resolution — “U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) joined Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) and 12 colleagues in introducing a resolution that would designate April 2023 as ‘Preserving and Protecting Local News Month.’ The resolution officially recognizes the role of local news as an essential function for democracy in the United States.” [Press Release]

Knife Standoff Ends Peacefully — “The suspect was inside a residence when he allegedly became agitated, brandished a knife and made threatening statements. Arriving officers advised all other occupants to exit the residence. Officers then made contact with the suspect, gave him commands to drop the knife which he complied with and took him into custody without incident.” [ACPD]

It’s Wednesday — Sunny. Mild. High of 74 and low of 45. Sunrise at 6:26 am and sunset at 7:49 pm. [Weather.gov]

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