police

Man Arrested for Lewd Act Outside 7-Eleven

By ARLnow.com

A 28-year-old man was arrested early Saturday morning after police say he was caught masturbating outside a Virginia Square-area 7-Eleven store at 3510 Wilson Boulevard.

An officer was driving by the store around 4:40 a.m. when he saw Nathanael Lovett, 28, performing the lewd act in plain view of potential passersby, according to police. The police report does not note whether anybody other than officer witnessed the act.

Lovett, who police say was recently released from jail in D.C., was charged with indecent exposure and held without bail. Public records show Lovett’s most recent address was an apartment in Northeast D.C. He does not match the description of a suspect seen masturbating along the W&OD Trail last week, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck.

No Link Suspected Between W&OD Exposure Incidents

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 5:00 p.m.) Police say they don’t yet have any reason to believe a man who exposed himself on the W&OD Trail yesterday morning has any relation to a string of 11 such incidents in 2010, but they’re investigating a link anyhow.

According to a police report released today, two woman and their young children encountered the man masturbating along the W&OD Trail near Ohio Street — close to East Falls Church — just after 11:00 a.m. on Thursday. The man was covering his face with one of his hands while performing the lewd act with the other.

The women, ages 33 and 40, were each with a one-year-old son at the time. They immediately started walking away from the man, who then fled the scene. As we reported yesterday, police searched the area but were unable to locate the man.

The incident is similar to a string of 11 indecent exposure incidents along the W&OD Tail in early 2010. While police don’t think there’s a connection, they’re looking into that angle anyhow.

“Detectives are… actively trying to determine if this case is in any way related to the cases that have occurred in the past,” said Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck, who added that no other indecent exposure incidents have been reported on the trail recently.

The suspect from Thursday’s incident is described by police as “a white male, approximately 5’8”-5’10” tall, with a chubby build.” He was wearing jeans, a black sweatshirt and black sunglasses at the time.

Anybody with information about the crime is asked to call the police non-emergency number at 703-558-2222. If you see someone expose themselves, you’re asked to immediately call 911 and report it.

Police on the Lookout for W&OD Trail Flasher

By ARLnow.com

Police searched a portion of the W&OD Trail near East Falls Church this morning after a woman reported that a man had jumped out of the bushes and flashed her.

The incident happened just after 11:00 this morning, on the trail in the area of Ohio Street, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. A woman told police that a white male, possibly in his mid-30s, jumped out of the bushes and exposed himself to her. The suspect then ran off, heading west on the trail, wearing jeans and a black sweatshirt.

Police searched the area around the trail but were unable to locate the man.

The incident is similar to a string of indecent exposure incidents in early 2010. A man exposed himself to women at least 11 times along the W&OD Trail between January and March 2010. The incidents stopped after police issued a press release warning women to be on the lookout for suspicious activity along the trail.

Crime Report: Caught With One’s Pants Down Edition

By ARLnow.com

In this week’s Arlington County crime report, a woman called police after walking past a parked car in Rosslyn and spotting the driver with his pants down.

EXPOSURE, 03/23/12, 1400 block of N. Key Boulevard. On March 23, at 7:15 am, a female victim reported seeing a male subject sitting in a parked vehicle with his pants down as she walked past. The victim took a picture of the subjects car, which caused the subject to drive away. The victim did not wish to press charges.

In Ballston, a man ran from police after officers tried to stop him for questioning. Police say they recovered more than two pounds of pot from the man’s backpack.

POSSESSION WITH INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE (MARIJUANA), 03/23/12, 900 block of N. Taylor Street. On March 23 at 4:20 pm, officers attempted to stop a male suspect in relation to a robbery and a foot pursuit ensued. The suspect was eventually apprehended and a backpack with over 2 lbs of pre-packaged marijuana was found in his possession. Arif Hassan Ahmed, 24, of Arlington, VA, was charged with possession with intent to distribute and was held without bond.

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

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ACPD to Participate in ‘Litter Enforcement Month’

By ARLnow.com

The Arlington County Police Department will participate in the D.C. region’s second annual Litter Enforcement Month in April.

Police will actively enforce litter and illegal dumping laws during the month. The goal, according to an ACPD press release, is to “raise awareness of litter, illegal dumping and related crimes; the laws associated with them, and their social and environmental effects on our communities, our economy and the Potomac River.”

Litter Enforcement Month coincides with the 24th annual Potomac River Watershed Cleanup.

“Preventing trash pollution in the Potomac starts by enforcing litter and illegal dumping laws in our neighborhoods,” ACPD Sergeant John Ravinskas said in a statement.

Police encourage anybody wishing to report illegal dumping to call the ACPD non-emergency line at 703-558-2222.

Car Crashes into Front Porch of Apartment Building

By ARLnow.com

(Update at 7:10 p.m.) A woman somehow drove her car onto the front porch of an apartment building in the Columbia Heights West neighborhood this afternoon.

The accident happened at the corner of 8th Road S. and S. Emerson Street. A witness tells ARLnow.com that the driver was trying to back into a street parking spot when she lost control, hit the front of a Honda, drove in a U-turn in the front yard of the building and came to rest on the front porch. In the process, the woman’s car took out one of the porch’s columns.

We’re told the small, three-story apartment building is currently vacant.

The woman did not appear injured, though her car suffered significant damage to the drivers side. Firefighters from Fairfax County managed to drive the car off the front porch and into a nearby parking lot.

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Road Closed Due to Serious Accident

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 11:00 p.m.) S. Carlin Springs Road was closed between 5th Street and 7th Road tonight due to a serious accident between a Jeep and a moped.

Around 8:00 p.m., the Jeep driver was trying to make a left turn onto 6th Road when the SUV and the moped collided, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. Officers arrived on the scene and found the moped rider, an adult male, lying on the ground. He was taken to a local hospital via ambulance with what were thought to be critical injuries.

According to Sternbeck, the man had a high level of alcohol in his system. He’s expected to recover from his injuries. The female driver of the Jeep remained on scene following the collision, Sternbeck said.

Carlin Springs Road was shut down for an extended period of time while police conducted an accident investigation.

Police to Hold ‘Active Shooter’ Training Exercise at Mall

By ARLnow.com

The Arlington County Police Department and other county agencies will be holding an “active shooter” training exercise at the Pentagon City mall Sunday morning.

The exercise will be held from 4:00 to 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, and will “assess the response of Arlington County’s public safety agencies in a simulated active shooter emergency incident.”

“The public should be advised that there could potentially be some temporary traffic delays as emergency equipment is positioned,” the police department said in a press release. “There will be a large number of public safety vehicles in the area of The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City and several parking lots along Army Navy Drive in close proximity to the mall. The exercise participants will not be activating their emergency lights or sirens at any time during the training.”

The mall will be opening for normal shopping hours after the exercise.

St. Paddy’s Day Crime Statistics

By ARLnow.com

The statistics on St. Patrick’s Day are in from the Arlington County Police Department. Police responded to more than two dozen alcohol-related incidents as revelers packed local bars to celebrate the holiday.

ACPD reported the following crimes on Saturday, denoted by the number of separate incidents officers responded to.

  • Drunk in Public — 13
  • Assaults where alcohol was involved — 7
  • Driving Under the Influence — 4
  • Urinating in Public — 1
  • Drunk parent at bar with baby (referred to Child Protective Services) — 1

Each incident resulted in at least one arrest or summons, according to police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck.

Crime Report: Bar Fight Leads to Finger Bite

By ARLnow.com

In this week’s Arlington County crime report, a man allegedly had the tip of his finger bitten off by an acquaintance during a fight outside of a bar. Doctors were unable to reattach the finger tip, according to police.

MALICIOUS WOUNDING BY MOB, 03/18/12, 2600 block of N. Pershing Drive. At 2:15 am on March 18, a victim was assaulted outside of a bar by known subjects. During the fight, the victims right index fingertip was bitten off by one of the subjects. Rudy Sales Perez, 21, of Arlington, and Jose Lopez Sales, 23, of Arlington, were charged with malicious wounding by mob and held without bond.

Also in this week’s report, a man was pistol-whipped and robbed after trying to meet up with a woman he met online.

ROBBERY, 03/16/12, 5000 block of Columbia Pike. On March 16 at 8:25pm, a male victim was robbed at gunpoint by two subjects. The victim had been involved in online solicitation earlier in the day and had come to Arlington to meet up with the female. The victim contacted the female by cell phone and was told a family member would meet him to escort him to her residence. When the victim was led to a wooded area, two subjects brandished handguns and demanded him to lay down. The victim was pistol-whipped and robbed of $80, a cell phone and 2 Metro cards. The suspects are described as black males, thin builds, approximately 6′ and 5’6″, and both were wearing black Northface jackets, black pants and baseball hats.

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

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Arlington Police Chief Rescinds ‘Quota’ Memo

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 11:45 a.m.) Arlington County Police Chief M. Douglas Scott has rescinded a controversial memo that seemingly imposed a quota system for traffic tickets and parking citations on the county’s patrol officers.

Scott says the memo, which he saw for the first time yesterday after television station WUSA 9 broke the story, was a “mistake” that has “embarrassed” rank and file police officers. A new memo Scott sent out this morning officially rescinds the March 1 memo, entitled “Proactivity Expectations 2012.”

“As a result of a news story, it became clear to me the public believed the memorandum was calling for traffic violation, parking violation and criminal arrest averages that could best be construed as ‘quotas,'” Scott wrote. “The Arlington County Police Department does not support a quota system with regard to enforcement efforts. Our officers are expected to perform their duties with the utmost professionalism and courtesy and even the insinuation that we are supporting a quota system… goes against the core values of this organization.”

Scott says there would be no disciplinary action taken against the two patrol commanders who issued the memo. At a press conference in front of police headquarters in Courthouse this morning, Scott suggested that the memo was well-intentioned but sent the wrong message.

“I do feel that most employers have performance expectations for their employees,” Scott said. “And I do believe the public believes that it’s reasonable for us to have performance expectations for our officers. However, citing specific squad averages, benchmarks or targets leads to confusion about quotas. We take this issue seriously… we do not have quotas.”

Scott added that the part of the original memo that discussed disciplinary action for officers who didn’t meet performance targets was a “mistake” and part of the reason he rescinded it.

Update at 1:45 p.m. — Arlington County has posted a video of this morning’s press conference, as seen below.

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