A garbage truck driver is now facing charges related to the death of a teenage bicyclist in Fairfax City earlier in September.
The driver, a 46-year-old man from Fort Washington, Md., was charged with careless driving and infliction of injury or death on vulnerable road users, a class 1 misdemeanor.
The 13-year-old bicyclist, a student at Frost Middle School, was near the 3900 block of Pickett Road on the afternoon of Sept. 9 when he was struck by the truck, which was exiting a nearby shopping center.
“The driver stopped at the exit and was looking to the left as the juvenile, who was operating a pedal-assist e-bike on the sidewalk, entered the crosswalk,” the Fairfax City Police Department said in a release issued yesterday (Sept. 29). “As the truck pulled forward into the roadway, it struck the juvenile.”
While the crash was initially identified as a hit-and-run, police ascertained during the investigation that the truck driver did not know he hit the teenager. The driver voluntarily turned himself in to police, was taken to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, and was issued a $1,500 secure bond.
The teenager was one of three Fairfax County Public Schools students who, in the course of a single day, were involved in separate accidents while riding a bicycle or a scooter.
