police

After 32 years, officer Adam Stone is hanging up his ACPD motorcycle helmet

By Matt Blitz
1/3

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You’ve probably seen, spoken to, been directed by, or maybe even gotten a ticket from Arlington County police officer Adam Stone.

Ubiquitous on Arlington’s streets riding his gleaming blue and white motorcycle, Stone is a well-known presence in the community for his work patrolling, manning road closures, following motorcades, or letting kids try out his ride. He’s spoken up for police officers’ mental health while talking about his own challenges. Stone has escorted presidents, protected citizens’ right to protest, and worked dozens of Marine Corps Marathons and July 4ths.

And, after more than 30 years on the force, Stone is retiring.

“Through all the years that I’ve been here, whether it’s good police times, bad police times, everyone in Arlington has always been super, super supportive,” he tells ARLnow, standing in front of his beloved motorcycle, yards away from the Iwo Jima memorial. “Not so much when I’m giving people tickets.”

Stone grew up in Long Island and joined the Arlington County Police Department in 1990, becoming part of the motorcycle unit four years later. And he’s been in the unit ever since, living in the Pentagon City area for the majority of his career.

“I always wanted to do two things in life: be a fighter pilot or be a cop,” he says. “Once I realized how much math was involved in flying, it was definitely police work for me.”

He holds countless memories of years of service. Some are still hard to think about, like the smell of concrete and kerosene after an airplane struck the Pentagon on 9/11. Others make Stone smile, even to this day. He’s met and taken pictures with six U.S. presidents, “still mind-blowing,” he says, and because his job often takes him to heavily guarded areas, he’s had the privilege of visiting places few others have.

“I’ve gotten to use the most secure bathrooms in all of the D.C. area,” he says.

And how are they different from other bathrooms?

“You have to walk through two doors to get there, ” Stone laughs. “And they are clean.”

Being a motorcycle cop also has added risks. He’s been hit three times, but says he’s gotten away with no serious injuries. He admits that he’s actually never told his mom that he rides a motorcycle every day at work. And when he retires in April, Stone says he will be “hanging up the helmet” and will never ride a motorcycle again.

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UPDATED: Preschool in Ballston evacuated after threat

By ARLnow.com
1/2

Update at 12:25 p.m. — The all clear was given, police told ARLnow around 11 a.m. “The school had elected to evacuate out of an abundance of caution. The all clear has since been given and officers are returning to service,” an ACPD spokeswoman said.

Earlier: The Children’s School, a preschool for the employees of Arlington Public Schools, has been evacuated after a threat.

Numerous police vehicles are on scene near the school, located inside an office building on the 4400 block of Fairfax Drive in Ballston.

“Police are investigating the credibility of a telephone threat,” Arlington County Police Department spokeswoman Ashley Savage tells ARLnow.

Savage was not able to elaborate on the nature of the investigation, nor the location to which students in the school were evacuated. The initial police dispatch suggested that person who called in the threat sounded like a teenager.

A permanent location for The Children’s School is currently under construction along Langston Blvd.

It’s been a bad 24 hours for light poles in Arlington

By ARLnow.com
1/11

Out of control cars and falling trees have made the past 24 hours the thing of nightmares for local light poles.

The pole carnage started just before 12:30 p.m. yesterday (Tuesday), in Courthouse.

A delivery driver parked her SUV on the steep section of Wilson Blvd in Courthouse in order to pick up kabobs, but the car somehow started rolling down the hill after she got out. It crashed into a parked pickup truck, smashed some sidewalk seating and annihilated a light pole in front of Burger District at 2024 Wilson Blvd. Construction workers who were in the area ran to the scene and called 911, but luckily no one was hurt.

George Ishak, owner of Burger District, says it was his truck that was damaged. He was grateful, however, for the ultimate sacrifice made by the light pole.

“God protected me,” he tells ARLnow. “If the pole wasn’t there, the car could have easily gone into my store.”

The restaurant’s surveillance video of the crash, provided to ARLnow, is below.

Just a couple of hours later and less than a mile away, another light pole was felled by the dangerous combination of vehicles and gravity.

At the intersection of Key Blvd and N. Oak Street, among the office and apartment buildings of Rosslyn, a car rolled backward down a hill and crashed into a pole that looked uncannily similar to the first. The circumstances around the 3 p.m. crash were unclear, but the result was the same: what had once stood proudly along Key Blvd, sharing its light with the world, was now horizontal and shattered on the ground.

Police arrived on scene shortly thereafter, assessing the damage and talking to a man who was either the driver or a witness.

Unfortunately for the light poles of Arlington, the destruction has continued this morning.

Police were called to the intersection of 21st Street N. and N. Scott Street in the North Highlands neighborhood around 9:30 a.m. for a report of a tree that fell and demolished yet another light pole. No human injuries were reported. Officers remain on scene as of publication time.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
Blossoms are out along Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Police Oversight Board Appointed — “The Arlington County Board is excited to announce the newly appointed members of the Community Oversight Board (COB)… The Oversight Board will consist of seven voting members who are residents of the County and reflect our demographic diversity along with two non-voting members with prior law enforcement experience.” [Arlington County]

Local Chef Feeding Ukraine Refugees — Bayou Bakery owner and chef David Guas is on “the frontlines in Przemyśl, Poland with [José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen], to give a helping hand to the emergency food relief for #UkraineRefugees crossing the border. Guas will be preparing and providing meals to help nourish those communities.” [Instagram]

Large Fight Near TJ Middle School — “3500 block of 2nd Street S. At approximately 3:47 p.m. on March 21, police were dispatched to the report of a large disorderly group of juveniles who appeared to be preparing to fight. Upon arrival, officers were approached by two juvenile victims who stated that they were physically assaulted by two juvenile subjects. Officers located the subjects in the area, detained them and determined one had sustained minor injuries consistent with being struck with BB gun pellets.” [ACPD]

Convoy Rumbles Through Arlington Again — From public safety watcher Dave Statter yesterday: “#TruckersConvoy2022 has made its presence known on I-395N, noisily crossing the 14th St. Bridge. @DCPoliceDept has the usual ramps blocked & #traffic is slowing.” [Twitter]

It’s Wednesday — A cloudy morning, then rain starting in the afternoon. Gusty winds and storms possible later tonight. High of 61 and low of 45. Sunrise at 7:08 am and sunset at 7:24 pm. [Weather.gov]

JUST IN: Police investigating multiple drive-by paintball and pellet gun shootings

By ARLnow.com

Arlington police say they’re now investigating a series of drive-by paintball and pellet gun shootings.

The shootings are believed to have been inspired by a viral TikTok trend dubbed the “Orbeez challenge,” which has led to numerous reports from across the U.S. of injuries and arrests from people being shot with pellets, paintballs or gel-balls.

ARLnow reported yesterday that four people were struck by paintballs shot from a passing car in Crystal City on Friday. One person was hospitalized. Today Arlington police said two recent incidents of people being shot by pellet guns, fired from passing vehicles, may be tied to the social media trend.

“The Arlington County Police Department takes these incidents seriously and continues to actively investigate to identify those responsible,” said the police department.

More from an ACPD press release, below.

The Arlington County Police Department is investigating four reports of paintballs and pellets being discharged from vehicles at community members in the last week. Similar incidents have been reported in other states and appear to stem from challenges originated on social media. While the motivation behind the Arlington incidents is unknown at this time, the Arlington County Police Department takes these incidents seriously and continues to actively investigate to identify those responsible.

Reported Incidents

ASSAULT & BATTERY, 2022-03160222, S. Eads Street at 12th Street S. At approximately 6:00 p.m. on March 16, police were dispatched to the report of disorderly conduct. Upon arrival, it was determined the victim was walking in the area when the suspect vehicle approached and discharged a pellet gun, striking the victim. The suspect vehicle is described as a maroon SUV.

ASSAULT & BATTERY, 2022-03180231/0254, 1400 block of S. Eads Street/15th Street S. at S. Eads. At approximately 7:24 p.m. on March 18, police were dispatched to the report of an assault. Upon arrival, it was determined the two victims were walking in the area when the suspect vehicle approached and the passenger discharged a paintball gun striking the victims, a parked vehicle and the door to a business. At approximately 9:10 p.m., police were dispatched to the report of an assault and determined two additional victims were walking in the area when they were struck by the suspect discharging a paintball gun from the vehicle. The suspect vehicle is described as a silver, older model four door sedan.

MALICIOUS WOUNDING, 2022-03210246, Washington Boulevard at N. Highland Street. At approximately 4:54 p.m. on March 21, police were dispatched to the report of a person with a gun. Upon arrival, it was determined the victim was walking in the area when he was struck by pellets discharged from a vehicle. The suspect vehicle is described as a gray or light blue small SUV.

Report Information and Incidents to Police for Investigation

These remain active criminal investigations. Anyone with information related to these incidents is asked to contact the Police Department’s Tip Line at 703-228-4180 or [email protected] or anonymously through the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).

If you are the victim or witness of similar incidents, report immediately to police by calling the Emergency Communications Center at 703-558-2222 or 9-1-1 in an emergency. Provide the dispatcher with as much information as possible including vehicle description, license plate, direction of travel and suspect(s) description.

Police investigating drive-by paintballing in Pentagon City

By ARLnow.com
Arlington police car at night (file photo courtesy Kevin Wolf)

Someone in a passing vehicle shot several people with paintballs in Pentagon City this weekend, sending at least one victim to the hospital.

The two incidents happened about two hours apart Friday night, along S. Eads Street near the Amazon HQ2 construction site. At least four people were struck by paintballs fired by the passenger inside an older, silver sedan, police said.

From an ACPD crime report today:

ASSAULT & BATTERY (Significant), 2022-03180231/0254, 1400 block of S. Eads Street/15th Street S. as S. Eads. At approximately 7:24 p.m. on March 18, police were dispatched to the report of an assault. Upon arrival, it was determined the two victims were walking in the area when the suspect vehicle approached and the passenger discharged a paintball gun striking the victims, a parked vehicle and the door to a business. At approximately 9:10 p.m., police were dispatched to the report of an assault and determined two additional victims were walking in the area when they were struck by the suspect discharging a paintball gun from a vehicle. One victim self-transported to an area hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. The suspect vehicle is described as a silver, older model four door sedan. There are no suspect descriptions at this time. The investigation is ongoing.

One of the victims posted about the incident on a local Facebook group.

“Crystal City folks, watch out,” the victim posted. “Some idiots shot us with souped up paintball guns tonight…. this happened at the corner of 15th St and S Eads St.”

She added that it happened while walking home from the nearby Whole Foods store.

More on what transpired, from the victim’s post:

We suddenly heard what sounded like rapid gunfire. Immediately my ear got hit, [my husband’s] chest did too. We then kept getting hit all over non stop. With the adrenaline rushing we had no idea what was happening and thought we had really been shot, luckily it was only paintballs! We eventually see where it’s coming from, which was a car full of idiots shooting a souped up paintball gun and we were their targets. We tried to take cover behind a van but they turned down another road and started tearing into us again until we were out of their sight. […] They lit us up pretty good, the pictures don’t show how bad the bruises/welts are. My back and knee are covered. [My husband’s] wrist and shoulder got hit as well. One pic shows how close they got to my eye.  It’s ridiculous that people think this is funny. Now that our adrenaline has calmed down we are thankful it wasn’t worse, but hope they find these punks before they do real damage.

Hat tip to Alan Henney

TRAFFIC ALERT: Spout Run Parkway blocked by crash involving police vehicle

By ARLnow.com

The westbound lanes of Spout Run Parkway are blocked approaching Langston Blvd due to a crash involving a police vehicle.

Initial reports suggest an unmarked police vehicle and another vehicle collided near the intersection. The exact circumstances around the crash are unclear, but no serious injuries were reported.

Traffic heading from the GW Parkway toward Langston Blvd is backing up well before Lorcom Lane as a result of the closure. There also appear to be some minor delays on westbound Langston Blvd as a result of at least one lane being blocked by the police response.

DEVELOPING: Police investigating possible shooting near Ballston

By ARLnow.com
1/6

(Updated at 11:20 p.m.) Arlington County police are investigating a possible shooting in the Ashton Heights neighborhood near Ballston.

The investigation seems to be centered around the intersection of N. Piedmont Street and 5th Street N., about two blocks from Mosaic Park to the north and the Buckingham Center shopping strip to the south.

The gunfire happened around 3:45 p.m. Multiple people called 911 to report hearing 2-3 shots fired and seeing an SUV fleeing from the scene, along with a man fleeing on foot, according to scanner traffic.

So far no injuries have been reported, but officers say they found some broken glass, potentially from the SUV’s back window.

Photo via Google Maps

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
Looking at the Key Bridge and Rosslyn (Flickr pool photo by Jeff Vincent)

Obit for a Local Legend — “John T. ‘Til’ Hazel Jr., a Virginia lawyer and developer who played a crucial role in building the Capital Beltway and transforming Northern Virginia from a rural outpost of Washington into an economic powerhouse, died March 15 at his home… He was a force behind the rise to prominence of GMU, acquiring land and lobbying for a school of law in Arlington, Va.” [Washington Post, Virginia Business]

County Holding Covid Remembrance — “The County Board invites members of our community to join in remembering Arlington neighbors who have lost their lives to COVID-19 over the past two years… Saturday, March 19, 2022 | 02:00 PM.” [Arlington County]

Repeated Thefts from Courthouse CVS — “The male suspect entered into the business, went behind the counter and attempted to open the cash register before being confronted by an employee. The suspect then walked through the store and stole a beverage and food items before leaving. The suspect then reentered and exited the business two more times, stealing more beverages and food items in the process. During his third entry into the business, the suspect was confronted by an employee and attempted to throw a beverage at a witness who approached him. The suspect then fled the scene on foot but returned a short time later and was taken into custody by responding officers.” [ACPD]

Beyer Blasts Plane Plan — “Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA), Representative of Northern Virginia and member of the Quiet Skies Caucus, today wrote to the heads of the U.S. Secret Service and the Federal Aviation Administration seeking a halt to procedural changes for regional airplane flight patterns. Beyer’s letter noted that the because the changes were not preceded by an environmental review process and were implemented just before a major drop-off in flights caused by the pandemic, their impact on noise levels in the region is just starting to be felt in full for the first time now.” [Press Release]

It’s St. Patrick’s Day — Rain in the morning and afternoon. High of 57 and low of 50. Sunrise at 7:18 am and sunset at 7:18 pm. [Weather.gov]

Flickr pool photo by Jeff Vincent

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
New signage for the soon-to-open Amazon Fresh store on Crystal Drive (photo courtesy David Johnston)

Post Office Naming Bill Introduced — “Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) today introduced legislation to rename the post office in Arlington on George Mason Drive (currently designated ‘Arlington Post Office’) after local letter carrier Jesus Collazos. Collazos immigrated to Northern Virginia from Colombia in 1978 and worked for 25 years as a USPS postal carrier in Arlington. He died of COVID-19 early in the pandemic.” [Press Release]

Police Hosting Summer Camps — “As part of our department’s key initiative of Community Engagement, the Youth Outreach Unit (YOU) works to proactively engage youth in Arlington through community-based outreach strategies. YOU Officers are excited to offer three camps focused on education, relationship-building and positive youth development while ensuring participants enjoy a fun-filled and safe summer.” [ACPD]

Join the Press Club — ARLnow wants to invest more in our local reporting and audience engagement, but we need your help to make it happen. Support local journalism by joining the ARLnow Press Club. As a bonus, you’ll also get our exclusive Early Morning Notes email, with a 3 a.m. “early edition” of this post and a preview of the stories we’re planning to cover that day, plus an early look at some of our feature stories. [ARLnow]

It’s Wednesday — Sunny in the morning, then becoming cloudy in the afternoon before rain overnight. High of 68 and low of 44. Sunrise at 7:19 am and sunset at 7:18 pm. [Weather.gov]

Police investigating shots fired near Columbia Pike last night

By ARLnow.com
1000 block of S. Frederick Street (via Google Maps)

Shots rang out in the Columbia Forest neighborhood near Columbia Pike last night, leading to a police investigation but no reported injuries.

“At approximately 6:24 p.m., police were dispatched to the 1000 block of S. Frederick Street for the report of shots heard,” Arlington County Police Department spokeswoman Annemarie Antignano tells ARLnow. “Responding officers canvassed the area, recovered evidence confirming shots had been fired and located damage to an unoccupied, parked vehicle and an occupied apartment. No injuries related to the shots fired have been reported.”

Police said they did not have a description of the suspect or suspects.

“This remains an active criminal investigation,” Antignano wrote. “Anyone with information or home surveillance that may assist with the investigation is asked to contact the Arlington County Police Department’s Homicide/Robbery Unit at 703-228-4180 or [email protected]. Information may also be reported anonymously through the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).”

Separately, this past weekend’s crime report included another gun-related incident from Friday night.

Police say a driver brandished a gun during a road rage incident near Clarendon, leading to the arrest of a D.C. man in the Virginia Square neighborhood.

From the crime report:

BRANDISHING (late), 2022-03110208, Wilson Boulevard at 10th Street N. At approximately 6:45 p.m. on March 11, police were dispatched to the late report of a brandishing. Upon arrival, it was determined that at approximately 6:00 p.m., the victim was driving in the area when the suspect attempted to unsuccessfully merge into his lane. The suspect then rolled down his window and a verbal dispute ensued before he allegedly brandished a firearm. The victim then drove away from the area. A short time later, officers located the suspect vehicle in the 800 block of N. Pollard Street and observed the suspect return to the vehicle. Officers initiated a traffic stop and took the suspect into custody without incident, during which a firearm was observed in the passenger seat and recovered. [The suspect], 30, of Washington, D.C., was arrested and charged with Brandishing a Firearm. He was released on a summons.

Photo via Google Maps

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