A bicyclist was struck by a vehicle and injured yesterday evening in the Buckingham neighborhood.
The crash happened around 5:35 p.m. at the intersection of N. George Mason Drive and N. Pershing Drive. Police tell ARLnow.com that “the driver of the vehicle proceeded through a green light when the bicyclist entered the intersection on a red signal and attempted to turn left.”
Initial reports suggest the cyclist, a man in his 50s or 60s, was woozy and bleeding from the face and head after the crash. Police described his injuries as “minor.”
No citations were issued to either the driver or the cyclists, according to police.
The crash apparently looked more serious than it ultimately was. From a Twitter user who witnessed it:
Beyer’s GOP Challenger Holding Arlington Event — “Republican congressional candidate Thomas Oh will host a campaign kickoff on Tuesday, April 24 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Spider Kelly’s, 3181 Wilson Blvd. Oh is the GOP challenger to U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-8th), who is seeking a third term. He was the only Republican to file for the nomination.” [InsideNova]
Local Scenes on Sale at Arts Fest — Among the artists at the upcoming Arlington Festival of the Arts in Clarendon will be Joseph Craig English, whose “silkscreens and lithographs capture local landmarks and street corners in vivid colors,” including “an architectural juxtaposition of old buildings and new construction in Courthouse; Potomac River vistas; local murals and street signs known to commuters who’ve passed by them for years.” [Arlington Magazine]
Arlington Tourism Surtax Gets Gov’s Signature — “The Arlington County government will be able to continue collecting a surtax on hotel stays to pay for tourism promotion, now that Gov. Northam has signed legislation extending the measure for three more years.” [InsideNova]
Don’t Try This at Home — Per scanner traffic, police officers responding to a call yesterday afternoon were advised that “the suspect is known for using hand sanitizer as an alcoholic drink.”
Nearby: Alexandria OKs More Funding for Metro Station — “Plans to build a new Metro station at Potomac Yard in Alexandria, Virginia, took a crucial step forward Tuesday. Alexandria City Council unanimously approved raising the budget from $268 million to $320 million. The change was made in part to reflect the rising cost of materials and labor.” [WTOP]
A vehicle that was stolen in Arlington was recovered after it was driven past a police cruiser with automatic license plate readers.
The car was stopped in the Nauck neighborhood around 1 a.m. this past Thursday and two of its occupants were arrested “without incident.”
More from this week’s Arlington County Police Department crime report:
RECOVERED STOLEN VEHICLE, 2018-04050007, 2200 block of S. Garfield Street. At approximately 1:05 a.m. on April 5, an officer on routine patrol was alerted to a License Plate Reader hit on a vehicle that had previously been reported stolen out of Arlington County. The officer initiated a traffic stop and two occupants of the vehicle were taken into custody without incident. Kevin Tate, 47, of Capitol Heights, MD, was arrested and charged with Buying/Receiving Stolen Goods, Giving False Identity to Law Enforcement Officer While Detained, and Driving with Suspended or Revoked License. He was held on no bond. Yvonne Elliott, 54 of Alexandria, VA, was arrested and charged with Possession of a Schedule I/II Controlled Substance. She was held on a secure bond.
The rest of this past week’s crime report highlights, including some that we’ve already reported, after the jump.
A woman called police early Saturday morning after a man allegedly walked up to her car while masturbating.
The incident happened shortly before 1 a.m. on the 1300 block of N. Danville Street, a residential block several blocks down from Clarendon’s bar district.
The victim told police that she had just gotten into her car when the man approached with his genitals exposed but his face covered by a hood.
More from an Arlington County Police Department crime report:
INDECENT EXPOSURE, 2018-04070016, 1300 block of N. Danville Street. At approximately 12:53 a.m. on April 7, police were dispatched to the report of an exposure. Upon arrival, it was determined that as the female victim entered her vehicle, an unknown male suspect approached the vehicle on foot and allegedly began masturbating. The victim yelled and the suspect fled the area prior to police arrival. The suspect is described as a black male in his late twenties, approximately six feet tall, with a full beard, wearing an army green hooded sweatshirt, with the hood covering his face, and grey sweatpants. The investigation is ongoing.
First Responders Say Starting Pay Is Too Low — “Patrick Gorman was just beginning to enjoy his job as an Arlington, Va., police officer when he decided to quit. His wife was pregnant with twins, and they already had a 2-year-old. Even with both working full time, he said, they couldn’t afford to live in the area. Two months out of training, he left the department in February and moved to North Carolina.” [Washington Post]
Large Arlington Contingent for Boston Marathon — Some 77 runners from Arlington are set to compete in the prestigious Boston Marathon a week from today. [InsideNova]
Public Safety Personnel Recognized for Crisis Interventions — “Four Arlington County police officers, two sheriff’s deputies, and a 9-1-1 dispatcher were honored this week for their exemplary work in responding to people in a mental health crisis when on a call or on the job.” [Arlington County]
Spotted: Michael Irvin — Former Dallas Cowboys great Michael Irvin was spotted hanging out at Champps on Pentagon Row over the weekend. [Twitter]
Rosslyn Hotel Opening Brings Up HQ2 — It’s difficult to find an economic development event in Northern Virginia these days that doesn’t spark discussions of Amazon’s HQ2. At an opening for the new Homewood Suites hotel in Rosslyn, Arlington Economic Development Director Victor Hoskins remarked that “you’d have to build, like, 10 more of these” if Amazon were to come to Arlington. [Washington Business Journal]
ARLnow Doesn’t Have a Wikipedia Page — Did you know that despite being around for more than eight years, and being cited as a source in plenty of Wikipedia pages, ARLnow does not have its own page? With Facebook now starting to use Wikipedia as a signaling mechanism for trustworthiness, now would be a great time for someone to finally give ARLnow its own Wikipedia entry. Pretty please?
Bank robbery suspect Christopher Lee Hicks (photo via ACPD)
Wells Fargo in Westover after robbery (photo courtesy Cliff DeGray)
Wells Fargo in Westover after robbery (photo courtesy William Kearney)
Photo via ACPD
Photo via ACPD
Photo via ACPD
Update at 2:45 p.m. on 4/8/18 — Christopher Lee Hicks has been arrested thanks to a tip, police announced today.
Arlington County Police located the bank robbery suspect following a citizen tip to the Emergency Communication Center. Christopher Lee Hicks was taken into custody in the 500 block of W. Broad Street in the City of Falls Church with the assistance of the City of Falls Church Police Department. He is charged with one count of Robbery and is being held in the Arlington County Detention Facility on no bond.
Police are looking for Christopher Lee Hicks, who they say is the man seen in surveillance photos of the robbery.
More from ACPD:
The Arlington County Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance locating a suspected wanted for robbery of the Wells Fargo Bank located at 1701 N. McKinley Road on December 22, 2017. Christopher Lee Hicks, 42, of No Fixed Address is wanted in Arlington County on one count of Robbery. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Christopher Lee Hicks should contact Detective C. Riccio at 703.228.4180 or [email protected]. If seen, please call 9-1-1 immediately.
Arlington County may be known as a generally pedestrian-friendly place, but you can get ticketed for jaywalking here.
At least 18 citations were issued in 2017 for common pedestrian code violations, according to the Arlington County Police Department.
Nine citations were issued for “pedestrian disobey walk/don’t walk,” and another nine were issued for “pedestrian walk in street when sidewalk is available,” according to ACPD spokeswoman Ashley Savage.
(The term jaywalking, while colloquially used to describe those crimes, is technically not an offense code in Virginia.)
“As part of a police officer’s routine duties, they enforce various traffic laws for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists,” Savage told ARLnow.com. “Officers utilize their discretion and take enforcement action when there is a clear danger to the safety of travelers.”
At least one of these enforcement actions occurred yesterday outside of the Deloitte offices in Rosslyn (1919 N. Lynn Street), according to a tipster, who sent a photo of a man waiting near a police cruiser as an officer wrote up a citation.
Pedestrian-related citations, dependent on the exact nature of the offense, can result in fines of $66 (including processing fee).
Recent pedestrian-related fines, including fines for paying attention to a mobile device while crossing the street, have drawn attention from D.C. to Honolulu.
The annual Street Smart regional traffic safety campaign kicks off soon, running from April 16-May 13. The law enforcement effort attempts to encourage safe behavior among pedestrians, drivers, and bicyclists “through high visibility traffic enforcement and education while reducing the number of traffic related crashes and injuries.”
A Woodbridge man has been arrested and charged with indecent exposure after police say he was seen masturbating in his car.
The man initially left the scene, on the 1800 block of N. Scott Street in the Rosslyn area, but came back after police asked him to. He was then arrested.
More from this week’s Arlington County Police Department crime report:
INDECENT EXPOSURE, 2018-03300228, 1800 block of N. Scott Street. At approximately 6:41 p.m. on March 30, police were dispatched to the report of an indecent exposure. Upon arrival, it was determined that the victim witnessed the male suspect masturbating in his vehicle. Based upon the vehicle and suspect description provided by the victim, police were able to develop a possible suspect and requested he return to the scene. Desalegn Alemu, 34, of Woodbridge, VA, was arrested and charged with Indecent Exposure.
The rest of this past week’s crime report highlights, including some that we’ve already reported, after the jump.
Cpl. Matthew Martin, Arlington Police Beneficiary Association president, speaks to reporters
First responders protest stagnant wages
First responders protest stagnant wages
First responders protest stagnant wages
Police and fire officials flooded last night’s (April 3) budget hearing to speak out against stagnant wages.
Public safety personnel say that police and fire wages are too low to allow them to live in Arlington long-term. Many are joining up, but soon realizing that their pay is insufficient to live in the county and raise a family.
The starting salary for a firefighter in Arlington is $48,000, while an entry-level police officer makes just under $53,000, according to organizers of last night’s demonstration.
A recent study found that single Arlingtonians can live comfortably on just over $56,000 a year; a couple with two children can live comfortably with just under $114,000 per year.
The proposed 2019 budget includes a four percent raise for ACFD but only a two-and-a-half percent raise for ACPD.
A “strategic restructuring” is in the works at the Arlington County Police Department, as its functional strength falls well below its authorized force. Recruiting has been a challenge, officials say.
Matthew Martin, the Arlington Police Beneficiary Association president, said that the department currently operating with 44 officers below full strength. That’s about two full patrol squads, according to the association.
‘Your police department is in trouble,” said Martin. “We can’t recruit and retain the high-quality officers that we need.”
The high turnover itself is a financial problem, as the department must then pay for recruiting and training the short-time officers, forcing the county to advertise job opportunities on billboards as far away as suburban Pittsburgh.
Ashley Savage, the police department spokeswoman, told the Tribune-Review that the billboard campaign “eventually will cover territory from Youngstown, Ohio, to Cleveland and from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg.”
Matt Quinn, a financial crimes unit detective who has been on the force for 12 years, said that since there are not enough officers for core services it’s hard even for those who don’t leave the department to move up.
“We have to focus on our core services, which is patrol, which means we have to make sure that that’s taken care of before people start looking at the detective bureau or other assignments within the bureau,” Quinn said.
Arlington County will not raise property tax rates this year, but fees are set to rise for several county services and amenities while other programs are seeing their budgets cut.
IAFF Local 2800, which represents Arlington’s professional firefighters and paramedics, noted that ACFD is paid as much as 20 percent less than their nearby counterparts.
So even if the demands are met, and a four percent increase is achieved, it’s just a start in the eyes of several fire and police officials.
“I think it’s a start for the department as a whole… but definitely over the next couple years we have to work at compressing the pay scale and increasing the starting pay to attract more good candidates,” Quinn explained, saying it would be a good start in a multi-year process.
4% is a start to closing a huge gap, but Arlington County needs a multi-year compensation plan for public safety. #ACFD is over 20% behind the DMV. https://t.co/vcIMKiqtXb
— Arlington Professional Firefighters (@IAFF2800) March 10, 2018
The County Board room, at capacity, was closed off shortly after opening as dozens of people — many in support of other causes, like nixing a proposed cut for Arlington Independent Media — poured in. The overflow crowd was allowed to watch and listen from the hall.
“We brought the fire department here, I think we’ll be fine,” one officer joked after the room was instructed to squeeze in to fit more people in the seats.
We are not asking to be number one…we just want to be comparable to the DMV. Last market adjustment was 5 years ago…and in this time we have fallen 21% below the market. #ACFD#ACPD#FairPayforPublicSafetyhttps://t.co/D6L5Ht9N1F
— Arlington Professional Firefighters (@IAFF2800) April 4, 2018
Arlington County Police are asking for the public’s help in tracking down a suspect in an attempted abduction on Sunday.
Police say a man tried to pull a woman into his vehicle on the 600 block of N. Oxford Street, near Ballston, on Sunday afternoon. The woman was able to break free and run away. Police were called and searched for the suspect, but were unable to find him.
ACPD is now hoping a description of the suspect and his vehicle, below, can turn up some leads.
At approximately 2:32 p.m. on April 1, police were dispatched to the report of an assault that just occurred in the 600 block of N. Oxford Street. Upon arrival, it was determined that the female victim was walking in the area when she passed an unknown male suspect. The male suspect called out to the victim and when she didn’t respond, he grabbed her from behind and attempted to pull her towards his vehicle. The victim was able to break free from the suspect and run away, however, the suspect continued to watch the victim from his vehicle until she entered her residence. The victim did not require medical treatment. The suspect fled the area prior to police arrival. Arriving officers canvased the area and a lookout was broadcast with negative results.
The suspect is described as a black male, with short dreads, possibly braids, with some orange, approximately 6’0, wearing a black shirt, light gray zip up hoodie and dark gray sweatpants. The suspect’s vehicle is described as an older, possibly late 1990’s or early 2000’s, model pick-up truck that was dark blue or black in color and looked “beat-up.”
Police have increased patrols in the area. Anyone with information on the identity of this suspect or details surrounding this incident is asked to contact Detective G. Sloan of the Arlington County Police Department’s Special Victim’s Unit at 703.228.4198 or at [email protected]. To report information anonymously, contact the Arlington County Crime Solvers at 866.411.TIPS (8477).
An 18-year-old Marymount University student has been charged with making a bomb threat against the campus.
Police say Samuel Nwalozie, a D.C. resident, posted the threat via social media. The university’s main campus in north Arlington was evacuated the morning of Easter Sunday — which was also April Fools’ Day — while officers and bomb dogs swept the school’s grounds and buildings.
“The investigation determined there was never a physical threat to the safety of the students, staff of campus,” Arlington County Police said in a press release Monday afternoon.
The school was closed for the holiday weekend at the time.
Nwalozie is being held without bond at the county jail in Courthouse.
More from ACPD:
The Arlington County Police Department has arrested a suspect for his involvement in a bomb threat at Marymount University. Samuel Nwalozie, 18 of Washington, D.C. was arrested and charged with Communicated Threats to Bomb a Structure. He is being held in the Arlington County Detention Facility without bond.
At approximately 8:49 a.m. on April 1, police were dispatched to the 2800 block of N. Glebe Road for the report of a bomb threat posted on social media. Arriving officers immediately began an intensive investigation and a possible suspect description was developed based upon information contained in the social media post and information provided by a witness. Police attempted to locate the suspect on campus and contact him unsuccessfully. The campus of Marymount University was subsequently evacuated while officers continued to investigate. Shortly after 12:00 p.m. the suspect was taken into custody by police just outside of campus. Out of an abundance of caution, EOD K9s continued to sweep campus prior to its re-opening. The investigation determined there was never a physical threat to the safety of the students, staff of campus.
This remains an active criminal investigation and anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact Detective J. Bamford at 703-228-4197 or [email protected]. To report information anonymously, contact the Arlington County Crime Solvers at 866.411.TIPS (8477).
Update at 3:15 p.m. — Marymount University issued the following statement about the arrest Monday afternoon.
