police

Complaint of the Day: Dancing in the Street Edition

By ARLnow.com

Dancing in the street sounds like a fun, whimsical way to work off some extra energy on a beautiful, non-stormy summer evening. But it can also be a traffic hazard! Just ask the citizen who alerted police to the two juvenile males breakdancing in the middle of the 1900 block of North George Mason Drive, near Virginia Hospital Center.

Martha and the Vandellas would approve of letting loose in the public right-of-way, but Johnny Law dutifully responded to the area to tell the b-boy punks to move on.

Unanswered question: Wouldn’t breakdancing on asphalt hurt?

Serial Stabbing Suspect Was Arrested, Released in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

The man suspected in the stabbing deaths of five people was arrested and later released in Arlington last week, the Arlington County Police Department has confirmed.

Elias Abuelazam, 33, was pulled over for a traffic violation on the 1100 block of South Walter Reed Drive early Thursday morning, according to police spokesperson Crystal Nosal. After Abuelazam’s information was run through a computer database, he was arrested on an outstanding warrant for simple assault in Leesburg.

He was booked and a mug shot was taken. A magistrate then released him on his own personal recognisance, police said.

The Washington Post reports that Abuelazam is suspected in a stabbing that occurred in Leesburg later that morning.

Abuelazam was arrested at Atlanta’s Hartsfield Airport last night while reportedly trying to flee to Israel. He is suspected in at least 20 stabbings in Michigan, Ohio and Northern Virginia. Five of those attacks were fatal.

Abuelazam lived in Leesburg as recently as one year ago, according to ABC 7.

Crime Report: Road Rage Edition

By ARLnow.com

Getting into fender bender is never fun. But it’s even less fun when the other driver pulls out a razor and tries to cut you with it. That’s what happened to one man on Tuesday, according to this week’s Arlington County Crime Report.

The victim’s clothing was torn but he was otherwise uninjured.

ATTEMPT MALICIOUS WOUNDING 08/10/10, 5600 block of N. Carlin Springs Road. On August 10 at 3 pm, a man reported to have been assaulted with a box cutter. The encounter occurred after a minor accident involving the victim and suspect. The suspect is described as a 35-year-old white Hispanic male, 5’8″ to 5’9″ and 200 lbs.

The rest of the crime report, after the jump.

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Police, WMATA Investigating Possible Hit and Run By Metrobus

By ARLnow.com

Police and WMATA are investigating an apparent hit and run accident that happened in Ballston this afternoon.

The three occupants of the car that was hit and another witness told police that a Metrobus rear-ended a car at the intersection of Fairfax Drive and Glebe Road, then fled the scene by making an illegal right turn from the main travel lanes of Fairfax onto Glebe.

Jeffrey Nichols-Haining, the driver of the car, says the light had just turned green when he saw the bus barreling toward him.

“I did see it [coming] in my rear view mirror… I mumbled [expletive] then got hit,” he said.

“He waved us to go forward, then after we went forward he turned,” said Nichols-Haning’s sister, a passenger in the car. Nichols-Haining said another driver saw the accident happen and tried to help.

“Some guy… turned behind us, caught his bus number and called the cops,” he said. “We filled out a police report, and we have a witness report that was filed.”

A Metro supervisor showed up about an hour after the accident. A Metro spokesperson says the agency is investigating the incident.

Nichols-Haining says he was on his way back home to Morgantown, W.V. after picking up his sister, who had just completed an internship. Although the car appears drivable, he said he couldn’t get his camera to take photos of the damage because the trunk won’t open. He added that he hopes to get the accident behind him and get on with his travel plans.

“I’d like to keep going because I have a camping trip planned… hopefully we’ll be able to resolve this quickly and get on with it.”

Update at 4:25 p.m. — A WMATA spokesperson tells TBD.com that the driver of the Metrobus did not report the incident. The driver has been put on three days of leave and will undergo mandatory drug and alcohol testing, TBD reports.

Update at 8:55 p.m. — The bus was out of service at the time of the crash. The driver was cited by Arlington Police, WTOP reports.

Charges Dropped Against Original Illinois Murder Suspect

By ARLnow.com

It’s looking increasingly likely that Jorge Torrez will face charges in connection with the murder of two young girls in Zion, Ill. back in 2005, a case that captivated Chicago and made national news at the time.

Charges were dropped today against the man who was originally accused of the crime. Jerry Hobbs, who confessed to the gruesome murders but later said the confession was coerced, has been released from prison, according to Chicago Breaking News.

Lake County, Ill. prosecutors are expected to hold a press conference later this morning to discuss “new information” in the case. That information is likely revolve around Jorge Torrez, a former Marine currently being held in Arlington on charges of abduction and rape.

DNA evidence in the case reportedly linked Torrez to the murders last month. Torrez used to live in Zion and was close friends with the older brother of one of the victims.

Sat Truck Still Parked on Park Drive

By ARLnow.com

Last week we gently poked fun at whoever called police to complain about a satellite truck that was illegally parked at Park Drive and South George Mason Drive. Well, guess what? The truck is still there, and people are still complaining about it.

Police received another call about the truck last night at 6:00. We checked it out and found not a single vehicle parked near it. We noted that the four hour zone parking restriction has already ended, so at that time the truck was actually legally parked.

Also of interest: There were no parking tickets visible on the truck’s windshield.

We called the company that operates the truck, PSSI Global Services, to find out why such an expensive piece of equipment has been parked on a random residential street for so long. The individual on the phone said a company representative would call back later that night. That, of course, never happened.

So the mystery of why the truck is parked there, and why people are so bothered by it that they’re still calling police, continues.

Arlington PD Not Planning on Changing Immigration Policy After Cuccinelli Opinion

By ARLnow.com

The Arlington County Police Department does not plan on changing its hands-off immigration policies after Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli ruled that law enforcement can ask about the immigration status of anyone they stop or arrest.

Cuccinelli’s legal opinion also allows police to arrest individuals suspected of committing criminal violations of immigration laws (such as illegally crossing the border).

Currently, ACPD will not ask about citizenship status unless such information is relevant to solving a crime. The department does not arrest undocumented immigrants for federal immigration violations, and only reports undocumented immigrants to U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement if they’re:

  • Involved in terrorist, subversive or street gang activities
  • Arrested for a violent felony
  • Convicted of a non-violent felony
  • Helping others enter the U.S. through fraud

“The police department does not plan to change policies at this point,” said police spokesperson Det. Crystal Nosal. “Citizens living or traveling through Arlington should not be worried that our actions will be changing.”

Nosal said the department wants witnesses and victims of crime to feel safe coming to the police, “regardless of immigration status.”

Arlington police will, however, continue to enforce all warrants from federal agencies, including immigration-related warrants.

Pet Adoption Van Goes AWOL With Dogs, Cats Inside

By ARLnow.com

It was a tense eight hours for the Arlington-based Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation on Saturday. A van filled with two dozen dogs and four cats was supposed to be en route from the organization’s ranch in Fauquier County, Va. to an adoption event in Seven Corners, but contact with the driver was lost and the van never showed up.

The foundation reported the van stolen and posted a plea for information about its whereabouts on their Facebook page. After eight hours, the van and its driver, a foundation employee who had been on the job for eight months, were finally located at the Vienna, Va. branch of the Department of Motor Vehicles.

“All the dogs and cats were fine,” foundation vice president Paul Blumberg said. “I think the humans were more distraught than the dogs.”

The van’s air conditioning had been on the entire time, preventing a potentially dangerous situation in the summer heat.

It’s still not clear what exactly happened. The employee said she got lost and her cell phone died, NBC4 reported.

Blumberg said he did not have a chance to talk with the employee, but she seemed upset. Since the animals were fine, and since officers did not suspect that the woman was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, police let her go home.

In the organization’s nine years in existence, nothing like this has ever happened, Blumberg said. He said the foundation’s board will discuss the incident and “see if there are any changes that need to be made.”

One such change may be putting a GPS tracking system in each of the organization’s vehicles, Blumberg said.

Despite the incident, the foundation was able to find homes for 49 dogs and cats this weekend.

Falls Church School Locked Down After Man With Gun Spotted

By ARLnow.com

Thomas Jefferson Elementary School in Falls Church was locked down around 9:30 this morning after a jogger told police she saw a man with an assault weapon in the area.

The man was wearing camouflage, a utility belt and a helmet, the woman said.  Falls Church police officers searched the school and the neighborhood but did not find anyone matching the description. The scene has since been cleared, according to city spokesperson Hyun June.

About 124 summer school students, teachers and staff, along with a daycare program, were inside the school at the time.

Update at 12:15 p.m. — Police believe the man, who still hasn’t been located, was carrying an airsoft gun or a paintball gun. He’s described as a white male in his twenties.

Complaint of the Day: Satellite Truck Edition

By ARLnow.com

If you spend enough time listening to Arlington’s police frequencies, you’ll notice that people love calling in to complain about things. Since complaining is so popular, we’re launching a periodic feature called the “complaint of the day,” to highlight the most humorous, outrageous or otherwise unseemly complaints received by police.

When it comes to citizen gripes in Arlington, noise complaints and “aggressive driver” complaints are common, but far and away the most frequent complaint is the parking complaint.

Vigilant civilians will call the police when a car is illegally parked in zone parking on any given weekday afternoon. They will also occasionally call to report expired meters.

This morning, someone called to report that a satellite truck — assumedly a news van — had been parked for more than four hours at North George Mason Drive and North Park Drive. We’d love to know the thought process involved with such a call — what was so bad about the truck being parked there that would justify asking police to possibly interrupt a broadcast being watched by thousands of people? (See comments.)

Crime Report: “Don’t Save the Space, Save Yourself” Edition

By ARLnow.com

In Lyon Park last week, police say a man purposely backed into a parking space, hitting a person who was assumedly trying to save the space for someone else.

ASSAULT AND BATTERY-ARREST 07/21/10, 900 block of N. Wayne Street. On July 21 at 10 pm, a man purposely reversed his vehicle into someone standing in a parking space. William Reintzel Jr., 39, of Arlington, was charged with Assault and Battery and held on a $2,000 bond.

Also last week, a purse-snatching happened in the middle of Courthouse while people were heading home from work.

ROBBERY 07/22/10, 2100 block of Wilson Boulevard. On July 22 at 6 pm, an unknown man approached a woman walking and forcibly pulled her purse from her shoulder. The suspect then fled on foot. He is described as a black male, 20 to 30 years old, 5’10” and 185 lbs. The suspect was wearing a navy blue t-shirt and jeans.

The rest of the latest Arlington County crime report, after the jump.

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