An Ashburn man was charged last week with reckless driving — almost a month after his alleged speeding killed a motorcyclist on Route 28.
Gael Cruchet, 53, received a summons on Friday (Dec. 15) charging him with exceeding the speed limit by over 20 mph while driving a 2016 Acura TLX sedan in the lead-up to the crash on Nov. 16, the Fairfax County Police Department announced.
According to police, Cruchet was driving northbound on Route 28 (Sully Road) prior to Westfields Blvd when he hit Zafeer Piracha, 27, of Lorton, who was headed in the same direction on a 2022 Kawasaki motorcycle.
“The driver of the Acura struck Piracha causing him to separate from the motorcycle,” the FCPD said in a press release on Nov. 17.
Officers responded to the Route 28 and Westfields intersection in Centreville at 9:01 p.m. Piracha died at the scene, while Cruchet was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
At that time, that crash was the 14th fatal one in Fairfax County this year that didn’t involve a pedestrian, according to the FCPD. Since then, the total number of fatal vehicular crashes has climbed to 19, matching the number reported in 2022.
Including pedestrians, there have been 39 people killed in crashes in the county this year, a decline from 66 fatalities in 2022, according to Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles data.
Route 28 at Westfields Blvd was also the site of a two-vehicle crash in May 2022 that hospitalized two people who ultimately survived.
Image via Google Maps
