police

Big Brawl At Bailey’s in Ballston

By ARLnow.com

Arlington police responded to a large fight at Bailey’s Pub (4238 Wilson Blvd) in the Ballston Common Mall last week.

It’s not clear what started the brawl, but it quickly grew in size and prompted a large police response. Six people were arrested and several people were taken to Virginia Hospital Center for injuries. At least one police officer suffered minor injuries but did not require hospitalization, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck.

“A huge melee broke out and spread into the mall,” Sternbeck said of the early Wednesday morning incident. “Nobody wanted to cooperate with police.”

From the ACPD daily crime report:

MALICIOUS WOUNDING, 12/05/12, 4200 block of N. Wilson Boulevard. At 1:35 am on December 5, a large fight involving several subjects broke out. As a result of this large fight, six suspects were arrested for a variety of different charges. A few of the victims/subjects were taken to Virginia Hospital Center for treatment of injuries ranging from swelling to lacerations. Mitchell Thach Khlock, 22, of Springfield, Va. was arrested on charges of obstruction of justice, resisting arrest, malicious wounding, and assault and battery. Smeth Snguon, 33, of Sterling, Va. and Vireak Snguon, 30, of Arlington, Va. were arrested and charged with assault by mob. Saloeun Chea, 28, of Alexandria, Va. was arrested on charges of malicious wounding and assault by mob. Carlos Enrique Lopez, 23, of Alexandria, Va. and Ray Shawn Banks, 23, of Arlington, Va. were arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer and disorderly conduct. All suspects are currently being held without bond.

Crime Report: Armed Robbery Fail

By ARLnow.com

The would-be victim of an armed robbery in Ballston managed to get away thanks to some dirt.

The incident happened around 9:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 30. A 6’2″ tall, 250 lbs man with a .45 caliber handgun tried to rob a victim at gunpoint, according to police, but his robbery was foiled when the victim threw dirt in the suspect’s face.

From this week’s Arlington County crime report:

ARMED ROBBERY, 11/30/12, 1100 block of N. Taylor Street. At 9:30 pm on November 30, a suspect allegedly attempted to rob a victim at gunpoint. The victim was able to throw dirt at the suspect and run away. The subject fled the scene in the opposite direction. The suspect is described as a black male in his late 30’s, approximately 6’2″ tall and 250 lbs. He had a full beard and was wearing a shiny black shirt and black pants. The weapon was described as a black .45 caliber handgun.

Also in the crime report, a man wearing a black leather jacket, white hat and white gloves allegedly punched a woman in the face and took her cell phone in Crystal City.

ROBBERY, 12/01/12, 2100 block of S. Jefferson Davis Highway. On December 1 at 7:35 pm, a victim was allegedly punched and then robbed of her cell phone by an unknown subject. The suspect is described as a Hispanic male, approximately 30 years old. The subject was wearing a black leather jacket, a white hat, and white gloves during the incident.

The rest of the crime report, after the jump.

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Wheel Thefts Reported in Arlington

By ARLnow.com
1/4

(Updated at 6:50 p.m.) About half a dozen Arlington residents have woken up to find their car up on blocks over the past month.

Arlington County police have been responding to a seemingly increasing number of wheel thefts. Thieves have been been stealing the wheels — rims, tires and all — from parked vehicles in the middle of the night. So far, all of the thefts confirmed by ARLnow.com have taken place in south Arlington, but a tipster reported a “rash of wheel thefts” in the Madison Manor neighborhood of north Arlington in late October.

The most recent incident was reported Monday, Dec. 3. Two vehicles — a Dodge Challenger and a Dodge Magnum — had wheels stolen on the 2700 block of S. Veitch and S. Lang Streets. Meanwhile, two SUVs in the Riverhouse apartment parking lot on S. Joyce Street have had wheels stolen since the beginning of November, and a coupe had its wheels stolen in the complex’s parking garage. Also, a car on the 4700 block of Arlington Boulevard had two wheels stolen during Hurricane Sandy.

Police say they don’t have much to go on this point.

“We don’t have a very good suspect description right now,” said Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. “But we know it’s more than one person.”

Sternbeck said the suspects are likely driving a vehicle large enough to haul a set of four wheels, possibly a van or a truck. Residents should be on the lookout for suspicious vehicles or activity in their neighborhoods at night, he said.

Police say vehicle owners can protect themselves by using lug nuts or wheel locks, and by parking in well-lit and high traffic areas. If given the choice of parking in a garage or outside, police recommend parking inside the garage.

“An ongoing goal of ours is to prevent this,” Sternbeck said.

Update on 12/7/12 — Police are investigating another report of a car left up on blocks. In the overnight hours of December 5, someone stole the wheels from a 2012 Toyota Camry. The car had been in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 2700 block of S. Fern Street. This theft is near two incidents reported on Monday in the 2700 blocks of S. Lang and S. Veitch Streets.

Photos courtesy Dan D., @courcelan and @bennylope

Court House Brawl Sends One to Hospital

By ARLnow.com

A brawl outside of an Arlington County courtroom sent one man to the hospital Tuesday morning.

A woman’s boyfriend and her ex-husband got into a physical fight as a result of a child custody dispute at the Arlington County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court (1425 N. Court House Road), according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck.

Sheriff’s deputies broke up the fight. One of the men was punched in the face and was transported to Virginia Hospital Center for “very minor injuries,” according to Sternbeck.

The man who was brought to the hospital, 38-year-old D.C. resident Maron Moss, Jr., was identified as the “aggressor” and charged with assault and battery, Sternbeck said. The second man was not charged.

Man Whispers Bad Words at Goodwill

By ARLnow.com

A man is in jail after police say he touched a woman inappropriately and whispered dirty things in her ear at a store on Glebe Road.

The alleged incident happened at the Goodwill store on S. Glebe Road this past Friday afternoon. Police say the victim was shopping inside the store around 4:30 p.m when a man approached her, grabbed her buttocks, and “whispered vulgar comments in her ear.”

“The suspect was holding the victim against him for several minutes until the victim was able to break free,” according to an Arlington County Police Department crime report. “Police located the suspect nearby. Laurence Allan Watkins, 40, of no fixed address was arrested and charged with abduction and sexual battery. He was held without bond.”

File photo

Roofer Suffers Critical Injuries from Fall

By ARLnow.com

 

A construction worker suffered critical injures after falling from the roof of a new home under construction in Arlington’s Riverwood neighborhood.

The incident happened just before 11:00 a.m., on the 3700 block of 27th Street N. The man, 34 years old and from Woodbridge, was working installing trusses on the roof of the new home when he lost his balance and fell three stories (30-35 feet) onto a patch of dirt, according to police.

The victim was semi-conscious when he was loaded into an ambulance and rushed to George Washington University hospital. His injuries are described as “critical.”

The family of the victim has been notified, said Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. State occupational safety officials were also notified. Police remained on scene to help investigate the accident.

Update on 12/3/12 — The man’s injuries “do not appear to be life threatening,” police say.

Man Arrested for Yorktown High School Sex Assault

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 12:55 p.m. on 12/23/21) A 34-year-old Arlington man has been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl on the Yorktown High School track.

The alleged incident happened around 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday. According to police, the man (described as having a “muscular build”) touched the girl’s buttocks as she was jogging around the track. He also blew her kisses and said “hey baby,” according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck.

The girl is a student at Yorktown but was not participating in a school activity at the time of the incident, Sternbeck said.

Acting on a hunch — the suspect was said to frequent the track area and has been known to approach female joggers — an Arlington police officer stopped by the school around 6:45 last night.

The officer spotted a man fitting the suspect’s description near the track, then observed him hop a fence and urinate on a tree in a wooded area, Sternbeck said. The man was arrested and the victim’s mother was able to positively ID him on scene, according to Sternbeck.

Anibal [redacted], 34, has been charged with sexual assault and urinating in public, Sternbeck said. He’s currently being held at the Arlington County Detention Facility.

“This is an example of how the Arlington County Police Department is dedicated to keeping a safe community,” Deputy Police Chief Daniel Murray told ARLnow.com. “Individuals committing crimes of this nature in Arlington will be held accountable for their actions.”

Crime Report: Burglaries Galore

By ARLnow.com

There were numerous burglaries, robberies and stolen vehicles in this week’s Arlington County crime report. Among them were two separate reports of golf clubs stolen from storage units in Courthouse.

BURGLARY, 11/15/12, 1400 block of N. Taft Street. Between October 15 and November 15 at 7:30 pm, an unknown subject(s) broke into a storage unit. The victim reported her golf clubs were missing. There is no suspect(s) description.

BURGLARY, 11/19/12, 1400 block of N. Taft Street. Between August 15 and November 19 at 6:30 pm, an unknown subject(s) cut the Master lock of a storage unit and stole golf clubs. There is no suspect(s) description.

On Monday, a man dressed in a Spandex bicycle suit stole cartons of Newport cigarettes from the CVS Pharmacy in Rosslyn.

COMMERCIAL BURGLARY, 11/27/12, 1100 block of N. Wilson Boulevard. At 3:50 am on November 26, a suspect broke the glass of the front entrance door of the CVS pharmacy. Once inside, he stole numerous cartons of Newport cigarettes. The suspect is a black male, approximately in his mid 20’s to mid 30’s in age, 6’0″ tall and 180 lbs. He was wearing a spandex bicycle suit, yellow safety vest, brown beanie and white sneakers at the time of the incident.

Last week, someone ruined Christmas by stealing presents from an apartment closet in Ballston.

BURGLARY, 11/26/12, 900 block of N. Stafford Street. Between 5 pm on November 19 and 11 am on November 26, an unknown suspect(s) entered an apartment and stole two shopping bags of assorted Christmas gifts from a closet. There is no suspect(s) description.

The rest of this week’s crime report, after the jump.

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Cafe Employee Scalded by Co-Worker During Dispute

By Katie Pyzyk

An employee of a cafe in Ballston is in the hospital after being burned with boiling water during an altercation with a co-worker.

According to police, the two employees at Mary’s Cafe (4301 Wilson Blvd) have an ongoing dispute and have been known to argue at work on nearly a daily basis. The situation escalated around 7:45 a.m. when 55-year-old James A. Muse allegedly threw a pot of boiling water on the co-worker. The victim then allegedly drew a knife, but other workers intervened and separated the two.

Police arrested Muse at the scene and it is expected that he will be charged with malicious wounding.

According to police, the victim has second degree burns on his face, back and chest. He may be able to be released from the hospital later today. Nobody else was injured in the incident.

Bicyclist Survives After Dump Truck Runs Over His Head

By ARLnow.com

A man is lucky to be alive after a dump truck ran over his head in the Ballston area over the weekend.

The incident happened around 2:15 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 24. According to police, the cyclist was stopped at a temporary red light next to a construction site on Quincy Street near Wilson Boulevard, when an unoccupied dump truck started rolling south on Quincy and struck him.

The man was knocked to the ground and one of the truck’s tires ran over his head, said Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. The man was wearing a helmet at the time and the helmet likely saved his life. He was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital’s trauma center with non-life-threatening injuries, Sternbeck said.

Immediately after the incident the driver of the dump truck, who had left it running and unattended next to the construction site, ran it down and managed to stop it from rolling further, according to Sternbeck. Occupational safety officials responded to the scene, inspected the truck and found multiple safety violations, he said.

Citations were issued and the truck was “taken out of service.” No word on whether any other charges are pending.

More Car Break-Ins at Pentagon City Mall

By ARLnow.com

Thieves struck again at the Pentagon City mall parking garage yesterday.

About 15 vehicles in the garage were broken in to Monday afternoon, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. The cars each had their door lock “punched,” allowing a thief to gain access to the inside of the vehicle. Valuables like wallets, purses, credit cards, cash, phones and GPS units were taken.

Sternbeck said the suspect or suspects moved from car to car, sometimes leaving items stolen from one vehicle in another vehicle. The thefts all took place between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m., Sternbeck said.

Thefts are fairly common in the Pentagon City mall parking garage, though a large series of thefts such as this doesn’t happen very often. In July, thieves struck at least 10 vehicles, including two police vehicles, in one afternoon.

“That’s one of the known hot spots for thieves due the the number of vehicles,” Sternbeck said of the parking garage. “[The mall is] typically a place where you leave valuables inside your vehicle. It’s easy pickins for these criminals.”

Police advise shoppers to keep valuables out of plain sight — perhaps locked in a trunk or a glove compartment — when parking one’s car in a public area.

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