One of the pedestrians struck in a hit-and-run crash on Richmond Highway earlier this week has died, police say.
Erica Tibbs, 33, of Alexandria and her 5-year-old child were crossing Richmond Highway (Route 1) near the Buckman Road intersection in Hybla Valley around 8:34 p.m. on Wednesday (Jan. 29) when an SUV driver hit them, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
“Tibbs and the child were transported to the hospital in life-threatening condition,” the FCPD said yesterday (Thursday) in an press release. “Tibbs was later pronounced deceased at the hospital, and the child remains in stable condition.”
Based on a preliminary investigation, detectives believe Tibbs and her child were crossing Richmond Highway from west to east “while not in a crosswalk” when the northbound driver struck them, according to the FCPD.
The driver abandoned their vehicle, a 2007 Chevrolet Suburban, “a short distance away” and fled the scene before police arrived, police said.
“The investigation into the crash continues as detectives work to identify the driver of the Chevrolet Suburban,” the FCPD said.
Tibbs is the first pedestrian to be killed in a vehicle crash on Fairfax County roads this year. The two other fatal crashes so far in 2025 both involved single vehicles, with a van driver flipping over on Franconia-Springfield Parkway on Jan. 3 and a sedan driver reportedly striking a tree on Sterling Road in Herndon on Jan. 20.
According to a Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets survey, the county had 19 pedestrian fatalities in 2024 through November, including three on Richmond Highway. Two more pedestrians were killed in December, one on Old Keene Mill Road in Burke and another on Route 28 in Chantilly.
At Buckman Road, Richmond Highway has crosswalks on the northern and eastern sides of the intersection, but not the south and west sides. Google Maps also shows no sidewalk along southbound Route 1 after the intersection.
Image via Google Maps
