Del Alfonso Lopez at Indivisible Arlington meeting that was interrupted by protests (via Facebook)
Del Alfonso Lopez at Indivisible Arlington meeting that was interrupted by protests (via Facebook)
Del Alfonso Lopez at Indivisible Arlington meeting that was interrupted by protests (via Facebook)
Del Alfonso Lopez at Indivisible Arlington meeting that was interrupted by protests (via Facebook)
Del Alfonso Lopez at Indivisible Arlington meeting that was interrupted by protests (via Facebook)
(Updated at 11:30 a.m.) Activists and lawmakers have been demanding to know who called police on protesters at a legislative town hall that descended into chaos last weekend, and now there is at least a partial answer.
ARLnow.com has learned that Del. Alfonso Lopez (D-49), the target of the pro-immigrant organizers’ ire, requested a police presence prior to the event.
Lopez and several other state lawmakers were attending a forum hosted by Indivisible Arlington at Central Library last Saturday (May 12), when activists with the group LaColectiVA used the gathering as a chance to press Lopez on his past consulting work for a contractor for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Though the activists asked some heated questions of Lopez, the event remained on track until Arlington County police officers made their presence known, setting off a shouting match. Attendees accused Lopez of asking for officers to intervene in the event, given LaColectiVA’s previous protests of Lopez’s connections with the Immigration Centers of America, which runs an ICE detention center in Central Virginia.
Now, the police who manage protection for state lawmakers — the Virginia Division of Capitol Police — tell ARLnow that Lopez’s office contacted them days in advance of the May 12 meeting to make sure police were on site.
“When a member of the General Assembly raises an issue of possible security concerns in their district, we can and do reach out to the local authorities on their behalf,” Joe Macenka, spokesman for the Capitol Police, wrote in an email. “In this case, Del. Lopez’s office did that. It is up to local law enforcement to respond accordingly.”
Arlington County Police spokeswoman Ashley Savage confirmed that her department heard from the Capitol Police on May 10, two days before the forum was planned, and she said “extra checks were requested for the event.” Savage says library security then called police, though they’d previously been made aware of the forum at Lopez’s request.
Lopez has yet to address the weekend’s events publicly, and an aide to the delegate has not responded to requests for comment.
Apple Eying Arlington, N. Va. — It’s not just Amazon — Apple is also looking to establish a large new office, potentially in Northern Virginia. Crystal City and the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor are among the sites the world’s most valuable company is considering for a new campus that would bring 20,000 jobs to the area. [Washington Post, Washington Business Journal]
Flood Watch Today — A Flood Watch is in effect today, starting this afternoon and running through Friday night. Heavy rain — 3 to 5 inches — is expected through Friday evening. [Capital Weather Gang, Twitter]
W-L Alums Against Name Change — Hundreds of Washington-Lee High School alumni have signed on to oppose the removal of “Lee” from the school’s name. A decision on the name could come later this year. [Falls Church News-Press]
ACPD Detective Honored — Det. Rosa Ortiz has been named Law Enforcement Officer of the Year by Arlington County Crime Solvers. Ortiz’s dogged work on cold cases “demonstrates our commitment to pursue cases, no matter how much time has passed,” said Arlington County Police. [Facebook]
Students Plant Trees Along GW Parkway — “Students from the Children’s International School in Rosslyn recently joined their parents and community volunteers in planting 32 trees in a previously weedy area along the southbound George Washington Memorial Parkway ramp to Key Bridge.” [InsideNova]
Del Alfonso Lopez at Indivisible Arlington meeting that was interrupted by protests (via Facebook)
Del Alfonso Lopez at Indivisible Arlington meeting that was interrupted by protests (via Facebook)
Del Alfonso Lopez at Indivisible Arlington meeting that was interrupted by protests (via Facebook)
Del Alfonso Lopez at Indivisible Arlington meeting that was interrupted by protests (via Facebook)
Del Alfonso Lopez at Indivisible Arlington meeting that was interrupted by protests (via Facebook)
Organizers with the group Indivisible Arlington are apologizing for how they handled a town hall meeting that devolved into a shouting match after pro-immigrant activists asked some tough questions of Del. Alfonso Lopez (D-49).
The grassroots group convened a public forum at Arlington’s Central Library last Saturday (May 13) featuring several state lawmakers, but Indivisible organizers felt compelled to call it off earlier than expected, as activists with the group LaColectiVa aggressively pressed Lopez on his past consulting work for a private company that contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In a new statement today (Wednesday), Indivisible leaders defended the decision to end the meeting, as they felt participants were “unable to maintain a constructive dialogue.” However, they expressed regret about the presence of both library security and county police at the meeting, particularly after an Arlington police officer arrived at the meeting and set off a new round of protests from the LaColectiVA activists.
“We recognize the negative impact of their presence on meeting participants, especially people of color,” Indivisible organizers wrote. “We did not request the presence of Arlington law enforcement.”
The group is now urging meeting attendees to reach out to Indivisible to discuss “how we can best move forward together.”
Some people who attended the meeting believe Lopez is the one who needs to take the lead on smoothing things over, given the way he handled the situation.
“It’s very disheartening, because he’s not apologizing or discussing what happened there,” Nelson Lopez, an organizer with LaColectiVA, told ARLnow. “We just want to have a dialogue about this issue, and he’s consistently refused to do so.”
An aide to the delegate did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nelson Lopez and other meeting attendees say they want to know whether or not Del. Lopez had anything to do with police officers heading to the meeting.
People at the gathering say LaColectiVA’s activists weren’t being overly disruptive when they first arrived, with one member of the group asking Lopez about his past work for the Immigration Centers of America, which runs an ICE detention center in Central Virginia. Lopez reported on state disclosure forms that the group paid him $5,000 in 2014 and $10,000 in 2015 and 2016, and LaColectiVA has spent the last few months organizing protests around the issue.
A video of the forum posted on Facebook shows that Lopez and some activists briefly argued — Lopez insisted that a nondisclosure agreement bars him from discussing his past consulting work, and he insisted that work is not part of his “public life” in the General Assembly — but the meeting soon returned to normalcy.
Roughly 15 minutes later, a county police officer entered the room, setting off loud protests from members of LaColectiVA.
“The police were preemptively called, and that was what caused the disturbance in the first place,” said Ben Tribbett, a veteran Democratic strategist who attended the meeting. “The kids were petrified when the cops got there.”
Arlington police spokeswoman Ashley Savage says it was library staff who called the department about the arrival of the LaColectiVA protesters. But Tribbett and Nelson Lopez say they are interested in finding out if anyone asked the library staff to contact authorities, a call echoed by Del. Patrick Hope (D-47) and Arlington Commissioner of the Revenue Ingrid Morroy on Twitter Wednesday.
I greatly appreciate @IndivisibleArl strong statement. I’d like to better understand the sequence of events that led to the calling of law enforcement, which was completely unwarranted and unnecessary. https://t.co/IsLLZu9JCs
Attendees are also urging Del. Alfonso Lopez to address an allegation made by another LaColectiVA organizer, Irma Corrado, who says Lopez threatened her as the meeting broke up.
She says Lopez told her “I know where you work, and my friend is a board member,” which she took as a threat that he’d get her fired. She declined to publicly reveal where she works.
Most of all, Nelson Lopez hopes the delegate takes this whole episode as an example of just how frustrated people are over his refusals to answer questions about his past ties to the ICE contractor.
“We just want to have a town hall, a public forum about this, so he can understand it’s not just some fringe group that has these feelings,” Lopez said. “We’re not trying to get rid of him, we’re trying to have a dialogue.”
A group of three men tried to take a woman’s purse near Clarendon early last Thursday morning, but were unsuccessful and instead ended up running away.
Police say the group approached the woman, threw her to the ground and tried to take the purse, but she fought back and the suspects fled empty-handed.
More from this week’s Arlington County Police Department crime report:
ATTEMPTED ROBBERY, 2018-05100029, N. Irving Street at Clarendon Boulevard. At approximately 2:39 a.m. on May 10, police were dispatched to the report of an assault just occurred. Upon arrival, it was determined that the female victim was walking in the area when she was approached by three male suspects. The victim continued walking and was again approached by the three suspects. One suspect grabbed the victim around the neck and threw her to the ground, while the other two suspects attempted to steal her purse. The victim was able to fight back and the suspects fled the area prior to police arrival. Nothing was stolen from the victim and she did not require medical attention. Suspect One is described as a black male with a thin build and black hair, wearing a black shirt and dark jeans. Suspect Two is described as a heavyset black male, wearing dark clothing. Suspect Three is described as a dark-skinned Hispanic male with an average build, wearing dark clothing. The investigation is ongoing.
The rest of this past week’s crime report highlights, including one that we’ve already reported, after the jump.
Update at 10:45 a.m. — The body of a deceased adult male was found in the Potomac River near Daingerfield Island just before 6.30 p.m. last night, according to D.C. police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck.
“MPD Harbor Patrol units were dispatched to the area of Daingerfield Island on the Potomac River to assist in the search for an alleged missing person,” Sternbeck said. “Upon arrival, we were notified that an Arlington County Fire [water rescue unit] located a deceased adult male in the water. The District’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner recovered the individual and is working to correctly identify the decedent.”
Sternbeck said he was unable to confirm whether the deceased individual is someone sought in a missing person case in Arlington until the body has been identified and next of kin notified.
Earlier: A search operation was underway Tuesday evening for a missing person along Four Mile Run.
An Arlington County Fire Department spokesman said that the department is assisting police in a search for a “possible missing person” and confirmed that water rescue equipment was used in the search.
According to scanner traffic, a police helicopter provided assistance from the air.
A tipster characterized the search as a “body recovery” along Four Mile Run near the intersection of S. Glebe Road and S. Arlington Ridge Road, but there is no official word yet about what, if anything, was found.
An Arlington police spokeswoman deferred to D.C. police for comment, saying that the Metropolitan Police Department was the primary law enforcement agency handling the search. ARLnow.com is waiting to hear back from an MPD spokesman.
Last night firefighters rescued a person stranded in high water along Four Mile Run near today’s search site.
A FBI agent helped break up a scuffle last week between a tow truck driver and the owner of a car he was towing at a Crystal City gas station, according to Arlington County Police.
Police have charged 33-year-old Arlington resident Norman Mitchell Brawner, Jr. with malicious wounding in connection with the brawl last Thursday (May 10) at the Exxon station near the intersection of 23rd Street S. and Route 1. Police believe a man confronted Brawner as he began to tow his car, then a fight broke out between the pair that resulted in Brawner stabbing the man.
While Arlington police initially reported only that a federal law enforcement officer witnessed the confrontation, spokeswoman Ashley Savage now tells ARLnow that an FBI agent at the station intervened when he saw the two men start fighting.
“An FBI agent witnessed the incident and gave commands to cease the assault while displaying his firearm,” Savage wrote in an email. “The suspect left the scene and the tow company contacted police with the suspect’s location. The FBI agent remained on scene with the victim until police arrived.”
Savage says the victim was taken to a nearby hospital with “serious but non-life threatening injuries.” She would not confirm which towing company Brawner was working for, but WJLA reports that it was Advanced Towing — which has faced persistent allegations of predatory towing practices and which made national headlines in 2015 after video emerged of then-ESPN reporter Britt McHenry berating an Advanced employee.
The company’s owner, John O’Neill, did not respond to requests for comment on the incident, though signs at the Exxon alert drivers that anyone parking illegally will be towed by Advance Towing.
Brawner is set to appear in Arlington County General District Court on June 22 for a preliminary hearing.
Arlington’s crime rate fell for the sixth straight year in 2017, even as the county recorded some big jumps in alcohol-related misdemeanors, according to new police data.
The Arlington County Police Department released its annual report for the past year on Monday (May 14), showing that the county’s overall crime rate dropped by just over 7.7 percent in 2017.
That includes drops in the number of several types of more serious crimes, like robberies and car thefts, though the county did see a roughly 4 percent increase in aggravated assaults. Arlington police also investigated four murders last year, after recording just one in 2016, but the department has managed to close all of those cases.
Police recorded some of the largest increases in crimes related to alcohol, with a nearly 73 percent jump in liquor law violations and a more than 17 percent jump in various “drunkenness” charges. In all, the county’s 129 liquor law violations included 62 underage drinking charges and 28 charges for drinking alcohol in public, according to the report. Police also recorded confiscating 703 fake IDs last year.
The department noted that some of those increases could be attributed to officers spending more time policing downtown Clarendon, in particular, as part of its “Arlington Restaurant Initiative” to step up the police presence in the area.
County police recorded a significant increase in “officer contacts” in designated “nightlife areas,” with a 56 percent jump in the number of interactions they recorded around neighborhoods with large concentrations of bars and restaurants. However, with the department’s plans to shift its resources to cope with a staffing squeeze, Police Chief M. Jay Farr recently warned that police may not be able to station as many officers in Clarendon moving forward.
Like many other communities across the country, Arlington recorded a large uptick in the number of opioid overdoses last year. In all, police responded to 74 overdoses in 2017, with 19 of those proving to be fatal. In 2016, the county saw 45 total overdoses involving drugs like heroin and fentanyl, and 12 were fatal.
Finally, county police recorded a 7 percent drop in traffic accidents last year. However, the department did register an especially large bump in accidents involving bicycles — from 32 in 2016 to 80 in 2017 — but they believe an increased focus on bike safety last spring helped contribute to the larger number there.
Similarly, Farr believes police will also have less time to devote to traffic enforcement under the department’s restructuring plan, which took effect on Sunday (May 13).
‘Indivisible Arlington’ Event Wracked By Division — “A town hall with local Virginia lawmakers dissolved into chaos Saturday and police were called after Latino activists confronted Del. Alfonso Lopez (D-Arlington) about his previous consulting work for a private company that operates detention facilities for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” [Washington Post, Twitter]
H-B Victorious at Ultimate Tourney — The H-B Woodlawn girls ultimate frisbee team won the prestigious Amherst Ultimate Invitational over the weekend. [Twitter, Greenfield Recorder]
No County Board Candidate for Arlington GOP — No one filed by the May 9 deadline to run as a Republican against incumbent County Board member John Vihstadt, the Arlington GOP announced over the weekend. Vihstadt, an independent, was endorsed by the local GOP when he first ran in 2014.
ACPD Sergeant Tapped as School Police Chief — Sean Bryson, a 20-year veteran of the Arlington County Police Department, has been named the chief of police for the Upper St. Clair School District, outside of Pittsburgh. It’s a homecoming for Bryson, who graduated from Upper St. Clair High School. In addition to his police work, Byson co-founded and has served as race director for the annual Arlington Police, Fire & Sheriff 9/11 Memorial 5K. [Trib Live]
An Arlington County sheriff’s deputy presents a wreath.
Arlington County Police officers present the colors.
An Arlington County police officer presents a wreath.
Arlington County Board Chair Katie Cristol address the crowd.
An Arlington County police officer offers a rose for a fallen officer.
Arlington County Police Chief Jay Farr address the crowd.
Arlington County police officers present a wreath.
An Arlington County police officer presents a wreath.
An Arlington County police officer offers a rose for a fallen officer.
Arlington County Board Chair Katie Cristol address the crowd.
An Arlington County police officer offers a rose for a fallen officer.
Arlington County police officers present the colors.
An Arlington Police officer and sheriff’s deputy lay a wreath.
Arlington County police officers present the colors.
Seven Arlington County police officers have died in the line of duty over the last 83 years, and county law enforcement and civic leaders took a few moments to remember their sacrifice Friday (May 11).
The county held its annual observance of Peace Officers Memorial Day at the Arlington County Justice Center Plaza (1425 N. Courthouse Road), inviting dozens of law enforcement officers and Arlington leaders to pay tribute to fallen officers across the country.
Participants in the ceremony offered wreaths and roses at the county’s monument to its officers who have died on the job, with a special observance for Corporal Harvey Snook, who died of cancer he contracted while working in recovery efforts at the Pentagon in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The son of Officer George Pomraning, who was shot to death while bringing a prisoner to jail on Sept. 2, 1973, also attended the ceremony.
County Police Chief M. Jay Farr urged attendees to consider what more they can do to prevent the killing of police, putting a particular focus on one of the leading causes of line of duty deaths: gun violence.
“Many officers who are shot are dealing with people who are not of sound mind,” Farr said. “We all need to think about what we can do to address this growing national mental health crisis.”
Yet Craig Floyd, CEO of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, suggested that the country as a whole was making some progress in that area. He pointed out that the 129 officers to died on the job in 2017 represented the second-smallest figure since 1959.
“We’ve done a lot, but we have a long way to go,” Floyd said.
The county ceremony coincides with the start of National Police Week, a series of events around D.C. from May 13-19 to honor fallen officers. A full schedule of events is available online.
One person was stabbed and other is in police custody after a towing dispute in Crystal City led to violence Thursday afternoon.
The incident happened around 1:30 p.m. at the Exxon station near the intersection of 23rd Street S. and Route 1.
“At approximately 1:29 p.m. police were dispatched to a dispute in progress in the 2300 block of Jefferson Davis Highway,” said Arlington County Police Department spokeswoman Ashley Savage. “Upon arrival, it was determined that a verbal dispute over towing escalated into physical violence, resulting in a victim suffering from a stab wound.”
“The victim has been transported to the hospital in serious condition,” Savage continued.” One suspect has been taken into custody. There are no outstanding suspects and no ongoing threat to the community. Police remain on scene investigating.”
Officers were initially dispatched to the scene for a report of a fight involving a man with a gun. The man was soon determined to be an armed law enforcement officer who in some way intervened, according to scanner traffic.
“A federal law enforcement officer witnessed the incident,” Savage said in response to an inquiry by ARLnow.com. “The details surrounding the incident remain under investigation.”
Update at 6:35 p.m. — WJLA is reporting that an Advanced Towing tow truck driver was arrested and is accused of stabbing the victim during a dispute over towing the victim’s car.
About 37 times per day, on average, someone in Arlington calls 911 and then hangs up the phone.
It may not seem like such a big deal, but those calls come at a cost: of the dispatcher’s time — 3 minutes per call, more than an hour and a half a day — and sometimes the time of police officers who have to respond to a hang-up caller’s home to make sure they are okay.
The numbers are big when you add them up: nearly 20,000 hang up calls over the past 18 months and 1,000 hours of call taker time spent handling them.
To help combat that, Arlington County is asking people who accidentally call 911 to stay on the line and let the dispatcher know it was a mistake, instead of simply hanging up.
The county sent out the following press release on the matter on Wednesday.
If you accidentally call 9-1-1, stay on the line and let the call taker know it was a mistake. This allows the call taker to resolve your call more quickly and be ready for the next call coming in.
In the last 18 months, Arlington County’s Emergency Communications Center (ECC) processed 19,906 abandoned calls, also called “9-1-1 hang ups.” Here’s how it all works:
As soon as a 9-1-1 call is initiated, it immediately enters the call processing system.
If the person making the call hangs up at any time after the call is initiated, the call is still presented to a call taker.
The call taker then attempts to contact the caller to ensure everything is okay.
Up to three return phone calls are made to the caller, including leaving a voicemail when available.
If the call originates from a landline phone, police are dispatched to check on the welfare of persons at that address.
If call takers can make contact and are assured there’s no problem, they cancel the dispatch of police officers.
On average, it takes three minutes for a call taker to process a 9-1-1 hang-up. That’s time a call taker isn’t available to receive other 9-1-1 calls. ECC call takers have spent almost 1,000 hours handling hang-ups over the last 18 months.
Remember, if you accidentally call 9-1-1, stay on the line. This allows call takers to be available for the next call, which may be a life-or-death situation.
And don’t forget, for those instances when you’re unable to call, you can now send a 9-1-1 text to our Emergency Communications Center.
