Before and after the Green Valley alley received county improvements (via Arlington County, with text added by ARLnow)
Two years ago, a motorcyclist died in a crash involving a school bus near Drew Elementary School in Green Valley.
A week later later, a car seriously injured a toddler who was playing in the sidewalk intersecting with an alley in Westover.
Following those two crashes, Arlington County embarked on a county-wide look at alleys to identify possible problems, from insufficient signage or markings to degraded road conditions. This year, it made upgrades to around a dozen of the 100 alleys it reviewed.
The 23rd Street S. alley in Green Valley, where witnesses say the motorcyclist exited at a high speed and died trying to avoid hitting a school bus, had parking spaces removed to improve sight distances, Arlington Dept. of Environmental Services spokeswoman Katie O’Brien said.
Meanwhile, the Westover alley at N. Longfellow Street and 15th Road N., near where the toddler was seriously injured, had a “watch for pedestrians” sign added, according to a county map.
Neighbors previously said this alley was frequented by cyclists and pedestrians, including students from nearby schools, but had dangerous blind spots. This included untrimmed hedges, which were cut around the time the toddler returned home from the hospital.
After evaluating sight line obstructions such as foliage, barriers and parked vehicles, and checking for unclear or worn signage and pavement markings, the county made changes to several other alleys.
Alleys in East Falls Church, Ballston and Alcova Heights had pedestrian warning signs added, while faded signage was replaced at a second alley in Alcova Heights.
Parking was repurposed to improve sight lines at an alley in Bluemont while a “no parking” sign was added to a second Green Valley alley where neighbors said parked cars blocked visibility.
Changes were made through general funding since they were small in scale, O’Brien said.
One person was killed and another seriously injured after an SUV collided with a group of motorcyclists overnight.
Virginia State Police said the crash happened around 4:40 a.m. on southbound I-395 in Arlington.
More from a VSP press release, below.
At 4:40 a.m. Saturday (Nov. 4), Virginia State Police responded to a fatal crash in Arlington County. Three motorcycles were traveling south on I-395 when all three vehicles were struck from behind by an SUV. The crash occurred near Exit 8 for Route 27.
Two of the motorcyclists were transported to a nearby hospital. One of the two succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. The other is still being treated for serious injuries.
The third motorcyclist was not injured. Nor was the driver of the SUV.
The crash remains under investigation. Charges are pending. State police is still in the process of notifying the next of kin for the deceased.
Virginia State Police vehicle (photo by John Calhoun/JC Photography)
An Arlington truck driver was seriously hurt after his tractor-trailer suffered a mechanical problem and was struck from behind.
The crash, at 12:30 a.m. last Tuesday along the Beltway near Eisenhower Avenue, killed the 51-year-old driver of the Mercedes that struck the truck.
More from a Virginia State Police press release:
At 12:30 a.m. Tuesday (Sept. 12, 2023), Virginia State Police responded to a two-vehicle crash in Fairfax County.
A tractor-trailer was experiencing mechanical issues that caused it to rapidly slow in speed while traveling east on I-495 near Exit 174. A 2003 Mercedes Benz traveling in the eastbound lane was unable to stop in time and struck the rear of the stopped tractor-trailer.
The driver of the Mercedes, Martin Warner Jr., 51, of Alexandria, Va., did not survive the crash. He was not wearing a seat belt.
The driver of the tractor-trailer, a 36-year-old Arlington, Va. resident, was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment of serious injuries. He was wearing a seat belt.
Scene of fatal moped crash on Clarendon Blvd (photo courtesy anonymous)
A 44-year-old Arlington man died after he crashed into a light pole while riding a moped.
The crash happened around 9:45 p.m. Friday on the 1900 block of Clarendon Blvd, in the Courthouse area. The force of the crash caused the light pole to topple onto the sidewalk and reportedly left the moped rider in cardiac arrest, with significant facial injuries.
Police are investigating the crash but note that the moped was being driven at a high rate of speed.
One local resident who emailed ARLnow said the stretch of Clarendon Blvd where the crash happened is dangerous due to a steep downslope and bend in the road.
“This intersection is very unsafe and drivers go way too fast down the steep hill,” the resident wrote.
The Arlington County Police Department is investigating a fatal single-vehicle crash that occurred on the evening of August 11, 2023.
At approximately 9:44 p.m., police were dispatched to the 1900 block of Clarendon Boulevard for the report of a crash with injury. The preliminary investigation indicates the driver was travelling eastbound on Clarendon Boulevard on a moped at a high-rate of speed when the vehicle left the roadway and struck a utility pole.
The adult male driver was located unresponsive on the scene and was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced deceased.
The driver of the moped has been identified as 44-year-old Solomon Zeleke of Arlington, Va.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Anyone with information related to this incident is asked to contact Detective S. Lafley at [email protected] or 703-228-4052. Information may also be reported anonymously through the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).
Intersection of S. Walter Reed Drive and S. Dinwiddie Street (via Google Maps)
(Updated at 6:15 p.m.) A vehicle with three people inside crashed into a tree along S. Walter Reed Drive early this morning, killing the 23-year-old driver and a 21-year-old passenger.
The July 4 crash happened around 2 a.m. at the intersection with S. Dinwiddie Street — a few blocks from Route 7 and from Wakefield High School. The force of the crash caused the vehicle to catch fire.
The circumstances leading to the crash are currently unclear. Arlington County police are asking anyone with information about it to contact investigators.
At last check, there was one surviving passenger with critical injuries, being treated at a local trauma center.
ACPD said Tuesday evening that a passenger, originally listed in critical condition, had died.
“The driver has been identified as 23-year-old Furkan Avkan of Alexandria, VA,” the police department said. “A passenger in the vehicle passed away at the hospital. She has been identified 21-year-old Habiba Harbaoui who was visiting the area from Tunisia.”
The initial ACPD press release is below.
The Arlington County Police Department is investigating a fatal single-vehicle crash that occurred in the early morning hours of July 4, 2023.
At approximately 2:06 a.m., police were dispatched to S. Walter Reed Drive at S. Dinwiddie Street for the report of a vehicle fire. The preliminary investigation indicates the occupants were traveling southbound on Walter Reed Drive when the vehicle left the roadway, entered the median, struck a tree and caught fire.
The adult male driver was located unresponsive inside the vehicle and pronounced deceased on scene. The two passengers, both adult females, were removed from the vehicle and transported to area hospitals in critical condition.
The identity of the driver is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Anyone with information related to this incident is asked to contact Detective T. Parsons at [email protected] or 703-228-4172. Information may also be reported anonymously through the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). For additional community resources and contact information, visit our website.
Police car at night (file photo courtesy Kevin Wolf)
A triple fatal crash Wednesday morning in D.C. has claimed the lives of two young Arlington men.
U.S. Park Police just released the names of those killed. They include Jonathan Cabrera Mendez, 23, and Olvin Torres Velasquez, 22, both of Arlington.
The men were killed while riding in a Honda Accord with 42-year-old Mohamed Kamara of Burtonsville, Maryland. It is currently unclear whether Mendez and Velasquez knew Kamara or whether the Honda was being operated as a rideshare vehicle at the time of the crash.
The crash happened just before 1:45 a.m. on a curved section of the Rock Creek Parkway near P Street NW when a Lexus SUV slammed into the Honda. NBC 4, Fox 5 and other local news outlets reported that the Lexus had just fled an attempted traffic stop and had dozens of outstanding speeding violations associated with its license plate.
A man in the Lexus suffered injuries not considered life threatening, while a woman in the SUV suffered critical injuries, according to USPP.
More from today’s Park Police press release, below.
United States Park Police (USPP) officers have identified the victims of the crash that occurred on March 15 on Rock Creek Parkway involving a Honda sedan and a Lexus SUV.
On Wednesday, March 15 at 1:43 a.m., USPP officers were dispatched to a crash on the Rock Creek Parkway near P Street NW. The three occupants in the Honda were pronounced dead on the scene. The deceased were later identified as Mohamed Kamara, 42, of Burtonsville, MD, Jonathan Cabrera Mendez, 23, of Arlington, VA, and Olvin Torres Velasquez, 22, of Arlington, VA. The Lexus was occupied by an adult woman and adult man. The adult woman was transported to the hospital with injuries later considered life-threatening and the adult man was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
USPP detectives are working in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia as the crash remains under investigation. No additional information is available at this time.
Anyone with information regarding this crash is asked to contact the USPP Tip Line at (202)379-4877 or email [email protected].
Virginia State Police vehicle (photo by John Calhoun/JC Photography)
A 26-year-old man from Vienna, Va. has died after crashing his Range Rover on I-66 early Saturday morning.
The crash happened around 3:30 a.m. in the Rosslyn tunnel. Virginia State Police say the driver was not wearing his seat belt and was likely traveling at an excessive speed.
A passenger suffered minor injuries in the rollover crash.
More from a VSP spokesperson, below.
At 3:37 a.m. on Saturday (March 3), Virginia State Police responded to a single-vehicle crash on westbound I-66 at the Rosslyn Tunnel.
A 2018 Range Rover was traveling west on I-66 when it ran off the right side of the road and struck a jersey wall just before the tunnel. It then traveled into the tunnel and overturned.
The driver, Talaat B. Hamooh, 26, of Vienna, Va., died during transport. He was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle.
A passenger, Hussain A. Aljahdali, 29, of Arlington, Va., sustained minor injuries in the crash. He was wearing a seatbelt.
Excessive speed is being investigated as a contributing factor in the crash. The crash remains under investigation.
The driver, 20-year-old Mayra Cruz-Arriaza, was pronounced dead at the hospital, police said. Cruz-Arriaza was listed on a childcare hiring site as a part-time nanny who “love[s] doing arts and crafts, especially painting” with children and who helped to care for her brother with special needs.
More from a police press release, below.
The Arlington County Police Department is investigating a fatal single vehicle crash that occurred in the early morning hours of February 21, 2023.
At approximately 1:47 a.m., police were dispatched to the 2500 block of S. Arlington Mill Drive for the report of a crash with injuries. Upon arrival, officers located the unresponsive driver inside the vehicle. She was transported to an area hospital where she succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced deceased. The deceased has been identified as Mayra Cruz-Arriaza, 20, of Arlington, VA.
The preliminary investigation indicates the driver was traveling westbound on Arlington Mill Drive when the vehicle left the roadway, entered the median and struck a pedestrian crosswalk pole and two trees.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Anyone with information related to this incident is asked to contact Detective S. Lafley at [email protected] or 703-228-4052. Information may also be reported anonymously through the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).
Arlington County police announced the charge Tuesday afternoon, after a month-long investigation, noting that “sun glare” may have prevented the driver of the striking SUV from clearly seeing the victim.
The fatal collision happened the morning of Saturday, Oct. 8 at the intersection of Little Falls Road and John Marshall Drive in the Williamsburg neighborhood.
“Following a comprehensive investigation, which included the review of crime scene evidence and witness interviews, sun glare was determined to be a contributing factor in the fatal crash while other factors, such as speed and alcohol, were ruled out,” police said today. “The driver of the striking vehicle, Kyle Pasternak, 59, of Arlington, VA, has been charged with Failure to Yield to a Pedestrian in a Crosswalk and released on a summons.”
The original ACPD press release about the crash is below.
The Arlington County Police Department is investigating a fatal pedestrian crash that occurred in the Williamsburg neighborhood on the morning of Saturday, October 8.
At approximately 9:01 a.m., police were dispatched to the report of a crash with injuries involving a pedestrian in the 5800 block of Little Falls Road. Upon arrival, officers located the pedestrian in the roadway suffering from serious injuries. She was transported by medics to the hospital where she succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced deceased. She has been identified as Gwendolyn Hayes, 85, of Arlington, VA.
The preliminary investigation indicates the driver of the striking vehicle turned left from John Marshall Drive onto Little Falls Road and struck the pedestrian as she was crossing the roadway in the crosswalk. The driver of the striking vehicle remained on scene.
This remains an active criminal investigation. Anyone with information that may assist the investigation is asked to contact Detective D. Galiatsos at [email protected] or 703-228-4163. Information may also be reported anonymously to Arlington County Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS.
Firefighters extinguishing vehicle fire after serious crash (screenshot via @STATter911/Twitter)
(Updated at 11:15 p.m.) The intersection of Williamsburg Blvd and Old Dominion Drive was closed for nearly five hours overnight after a fiery crash that killed a teenager.
Two vehicles collided at the intersection, in the Rock Spring neighborhood, around 12:30 a.m. The engine compartment of one of the vehicles caught fire.
The flames were quickly extinguished after firefighters arrived on scene. The intersection was closed overnight while police investigated the crash.
Initial reports suggested that several people were injured and one person was found unresponsive.
Police confirmed early Friday afternoon that one person, a teen boy, was killed. The driver of the other car — an SUV, which caught fire after the crash — was also a teen. He has been charged with DUI/Involuntary Manslaughter, according to ACPD.
The press release is below.
The Arlington County Police Department has charged a juvenile male in his teens with DUI/Involuntary Manslaughter following a fatal vehicle crash in the Rock Spring neighborhood. He remains held in a juvenile detention facility.
At approximately 12:29 a.m. on November 11, police were dispatched to Old Dominion Drive at Williamsburg Boulevard for the report of a two-vehicle crash with injuries. Upon arrival, first responders located an unoccupied SUV on fire. The fire was quickly extinguished by the Arlington County Fire Department. The driver of the second involved vehicle, a sedan, was located unresponsive inside the vehicle and pronounced deceased on scene.
The preliminary investigation indicates the driver of the sedan was attempting to make a U-turn on Old Dominion Drive when he was struck at a high rate of speed by the SUV. The driver of the SUV was taken into custody on scene. Alcohol is believed to be a factor in the crash.
The deceased is a juvenile male in his teens. His identification is being withheld in accordance with Virginia Code § 19.2-11.2 which limits Virginia law enforcement agencies from directly or indirectly identifying deceased juvenile victims of a crime.
This remains an active criminal investigation. Anyone with information that may assist the investigation is asked to contact Detective S. Whalin at [email protected] or 703-228-4159. Information may also be reported anonymously to Arlington County Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS.
The victim has been publicly identified as Braylon Meade, a Washington-Liberty High School basketball player. The school’s principal says counselors will be available for students who need extra support next week.
Signs at tonight’s W-L football game mourned Meade, who wore #22 on the court.
As I said in my message to our larger W-L family, we know that many in our community will be personally impacted by this loss. On Mon, Nov. 14 and in the days after we will have counseling staff available for any student who feels that they might need extra support.
Drunk driving — the alleged reason why a woman was killed in a hit-and-run last month — is on the rise in Arlington.
The fatal crash in the Arlington Heights neighborhood has county leaders considering greater emphasis on curbing drunk driving. Neighbors, meanwhile, are asking the county to add more traffic calming measures to combat risky driving, particularly near Alice West Fleet Elementary School and Thomas Jefferson Middle School.
On Aug. 1, a driver hit Viviana Oxlaj Pérez while she was walking near the Thomas Jefferson Community Center at 3501 2nd Street S. She was treated at the scene and transported to the hospital, where she died.
The Arlington County Police Department arrested Julio David Villazon at his home on Aug. 2 and charged him with involuntary manslaughter, hit and run, driving under the influence and driving on a revoked license.
There has been an uptick in alcohol-involved crashes in Arlington. Last year, ACPD recorded 143 alcohol-involved crashes, up nearly 49% increase from 96 in 2020, according to its 2021 annual report. In 2022, ACPD has recorded 116 alcohol-involved crashes, says police spokesman Ashley Savage.
Bicycle, pedestrian and alcohol-involved crash statistics in Arlington County from 2017 to 2021 (via Arlington County)
Driving under the influence is one of the top contributing factors to a “disproportionate” number of critical and fatal crashes in the county, says Dept. of Environmental Services spokeswoman Katie O’Brien. The others are speeding, turning left at an intersection, turning right across bicycle lanes and failing to yield to pedestrians.
Each of these behaviors is being addressed during an ongoing “Critical Crash Mitigation Campaign” through December.
The recent rise in alcohol-related crashes chips away at what had been a broader downward trend in drunk driving. Arlington County Board Chair Katie Cristol attributed this initial decrease to efforts, such as the ACPD Arlington Restaurant Initiative and the Washington Region Alcohol Program, as well as the growing popularity of ride-sharing services — which have been getting more expensive.
“Now, however, national trends are indicating major increases in alcohol-related traffic fatalities during the pandemic (regional data is lagging but reasonable inference suggests our local trends may be similar),” Cristol said in an email to ARLnow. “This indicates to me that there is a greater role for the County Board in public education about the threat that drunk driving poses to our own community.”
Alcohol-related traffic injuries in the D.C. area from 2013 to 2020 (via Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments)
Cristol said the most important message she can communicate about last month’s crash is that “there is no safe way to drive drunk.”
“In this situation, the driver was impaired, and there is no ‘safe’ BAC above zero to get behind the wheel. Any intersection or roadway — irrespective of the physical safety improvements, visibility interventions, or other designs to the built environment — is unsafe when a drunk driver is present,” she said.
The DUI is Villazon’s second driving offense within the last 10 years, according to court records. He was previously found guilty of “improper driving” in the Arlington General District Court. Under state code, the misdemeanor charge of reckless driving can be knocked down to improper driving if either the judge or the prosecutor find that the offense was not serious.
His next court date is in February 2023.
The crash that killed Oxlaj Pérez is being examined by a broad swath of local agencies, including Arlington’s transportation staff, the police and fire departments, Arlington’s Dept. of Human Services, Virginia State Police and the County Manager’s office.
But neighbors say the problem is not hard to understand. They say drivers, particularly during school drop-off and pick-up times, speed down S. Glebe Road and Arlington Blvd (Route 50), run red lights, roll stop signs, make illegal U-turns, block crosswalks and go the wrong way on 1st Road S., a one-way street — and they’re not drunk.
“I understand the tragedy that occurred a few weeks ago involved alcohol and likely wouldn’t have been prevented with traffic changes,” said one neighbor, Kelly Cherry-Leigh Davison. “But we have brought up these safety issues numerous times to everyone we can think of and are getting nowhere. I’m worried every day another tragedy is going to occur and we could be preventing it.”
