A car ran into the front of a gas station in Bluemont this morning.
The incident happened around 9:30 a.m. The driver of a car somehow lost control and ran into the front of the clerk’s booth at the BP station at the corner of Wilson Blvd and George Mason Drive.
The car only dented the building and no one was injured. Despite the scare, the gas station has remained open to customers.
A car crashed into a building in the Gates of Ballston apartment complex this afternoon just after 1:00 p.m.
According to a witness at the scene, the driver of the car, a blue Dodge Neon, was traveling south on N. Thomas Street when it ran a stop sign at the intersection of N. Henderson Road in Buckingham. When it entered the intersection, a black Audi struck it in the rear driver’s side, after which point the car lost control, mounted the curb, and crashed into the brick apartment building.
The building had some scratches on it but suffered no structural damage, according to an employee of AHC, which owns the apartments. No injuries were reported and the car was towed away just before 2:00 p.m.
A FedEx truck crashed into a preschool building in north Arlington this afternoon.
The accident happened on the 5000 block of N. Little Falls Road, in the Rock Spring neighborhood. The truck driver somehow lost control, sideswiped a minivan, jumped the curb and ran head-first into the Rock Spring Cooperative Preschool.
The building was unoccupied at the time and no one — including the driver — was hurt, according to Arlington County Fire Department spokeswoman Lt. Sarah-Maria Marchegiani.
A building inspector has been called to the scene to inspect the damage to the structure.
Photos courtesy ACFD, Jason Gropper
A car crashed into the front of the ground floor office of Westwood College in Ballston tonight.
The incident happened just before 8:30 p.m. at 4420 Fairfax Drive. A man driving a sedan suffered an apparent seizure, lost control of the car and crashed it into the front of the building, according to Arlington Deputy Fire Marshal Brian McGraw.
“A car hit [the] building and looked split up the middle of the engine compartment,” one passerby told ARLnow.com via email. “The driver had been removed from the car by the time I got there and was lying on the ground nearby, very dazed.”
The man suffered minor injuries and was transported to the hospital, McGraw said. No one inside the building was hurt.
Photos courtesy Betsy Frantz, John R. and @LemurFestival
A car smashed into the Health and Wholeness Personal Training Studio (2444 26th Road S.) near Shirlington on Saturday afternoon.
According to Health and Wholeness owner Nina Elliot, it’s at least the third time her building, which is at the corner of 26th Road and S. Glebe Road, has been struck by a car. Close to five years ago, before her business moved in, her leasing office said it was rammed in a similar way. Elliot said a firefighter at the scene told her another car crashed into it more than a decade ago.
“It’s dangerous for several reasons,” Elliot said. “Cars can’t turn from I-395 straight into the intersection. Buses will make a turn and constantly clip the curb. People are constantly getting pulled over for not coming to a complete stop. Cars will crash into a different curb, and when the sun sets you can’t see the signal.”
No one was in the studio when the crash occurred, Elliot said, counting herself lucky considering the car plowed right into an area of the studio in which her young son typically hangs out. The crash left the studio without a window and with several pieces of equipment destroyed or damaged.
“There needs to be some sort of barricade,” Elliot said. “We’re going to try to push for that.”
The driver of the car was taken to the hospital but a passenger turned down hospitalization, said Elliot. The studio was cleaned and boarded up and reopened for business the following day.
Photos via Facebook
Police are investigating a hit-and-run involving a minivan that crashed into the front of the Popeyes at 5007 Columbia Pike this afternoon.
The incident happened around lunchtime at the Columbia Pike Plaza strip mall. After running into the front of the restaurant, the van backed into an SUV and then sped away, according to police and witnesses.
The collision caused minor damage to the Popeyes, including scrape marks on a brick column and a broken front window pane. The restaurant was briefly evacuated, according to scanner traffic, but then reopened and continued to serve lunch patrons. Nobody was hurt.
The SUV driver told ARLnow.com that the van backed into his vehicle as he was trying to leave the parking lot. The collision dented the front of the SUV but did not cause any injuries or significant damage. The SUV driver said the striking vehicle was a gray minivan, and the driver — who he caught a glimpse of as the van fled the scene — was a Hispanic male. He said it was his first crash in his 46 years of driving.
“I just hope they catch the bastard,” he said as he surveyed the damage to the SUV. “They better find him before I do.”
As of 1:00 p.m. police were still looking for the van and its driver. This was at least the third time a vehicle has crashed into the front of a business at the Columbia Pike Plaza shopping center since May 2011.
(Updated at 2:30 p.m.) A car has plowed into the front of a Pizza Hut restaurant on Lee Highway.
Arlington County police and firefighters responded to the Lee Centre shops on the 3300 block of Lee Highway just before 1:00 p.m. for a report of a car into a building. Upon arrival, they found a Honda Fit hatchback that had driven through the front door of the Pizza Hut. Half of the car was in the restaurant, stopped only by the order counter.
The 86-year-old female driver was extricated from the car by firefighters, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. She suffered no visible injuries but was taken to a local hospital for evaluation.
Amazingly, even though it was lunch time, there were no customers inside the store at the time of the accident. Four employees were inside at the time, according to police, but nobody was hurt.
The car was removed from the building by a tow truck around 1:30 p.m. An Arlington County building inspector has determined that there is no structural damage to the building, but the restaurant will be boarded up until its front facade can be repaired.
Photo courtesy @CAPT258
An elderly driver was involved in a bizarre accident near Crystal City this afternoon.
The accident happened around 4:00 p.m. on the 700 block of 23rd Street S. Witnesses say an elderly driver in a white sedan pulled out of a commercial driveway, slammed into the side of passing minivan, continued driving across the street and into the front yard of Linden Resources, then back across the street and into the front of a small office building.
The elderly male driver seemed shaken up by his car’s airbag but not seriously injured, witnesses said. He was transported via ambulance to a local hospital. No other injuries were reported.
The office building, which houses NATO offices among other tenants, did not suffer any significant, apparent damage. Linden Resources’ flower bed was torn up and its front walkway railing was knocked over.
(Updated at 2:20 p.m.) A car has plowed into the CVS Pharmacy at 5017 Columbia Pike for the second time in as many years.
The incident happened around 11:00. The car, a Mitsubishi sedan, hopped a curb smashed through a low wall and several large windows next to the entrance to the store, coming to rest on the sidewalk. Nobody was injured. Initial reports suggest the driver was trying to back out of the parking spot, but instead hit the gas while the car was in drive.
The fire department ordered the store temporarily closed as a safety precaution, pending a building inspection. A manager, who was assessing the damage, said the mid-day closure was costing the store “thousands” of dollars, not to mention the cost of repairing the damage.
In May 2011, a car hopped the curb and smashed into the store just feet from where today’s accident occurred. The scars from that accident are still visible in the repaired section of wall.
The manager said the store will likely look into planters or other ways to prevent additional accidents.
(Updated at 6:20 p.m.) An out-of-control SUV struck the front of Bangkok 54 restaurant (2919 Columbia Pike) this afternoon.
The crash happened around 3:45 p.m. Damage to the building appeared to be relatively minor and confined to the front facade of the eatery. The vehicle also nicked a street tree before coming to rest between Bangkok 54 and Maruko Japanese Restaurant. A box of beer could be seen in the back of the SUV.
The driver tried to run once police arrived on scene, we’re told. He hopped a fence behind the nearby McDonald’s restaurant but was tased by police and apprehended a block or two away.
The man, who was the only occupant of the vehicle, was evaluated for minor injuries and was transported to a local hospital, where he will undergo drug and alcohol testing, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. No other injuries were reported.
Police are investigating whether the vehicle might have been stolen or used without authorization.
A car came crashing into the Baskin-Robbins ice cream store at 2511 N. Harrison Street in the Yorktown neighborhood this afternoon.
Just after 12:00 p.m. an elderly male driver in a Toyota Camry drove into the store’s entrance after accidentally pressing the gas instead of the brake, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. Two people were inside the vehicle at the time. No word on whether anybody was inside the store.
Damage to the store is estimated at $20,000, but a building inspector determined that there was no structural damage to the building.
No injuries were reported and no charges have been filed against the driver.
Courtesy photo
