A driver involved in one of the two fatal pedestrian crashes that occurred on the Capital Beltway this past Sunday (March 10) was allegedly intoxicated and didn’t have a valid license, according to the Virginia State Police.
Carlos Nunez Morales, a 26-year-old Woodbridge resident, has been charged with driving under the influence, involuntary manslaughter and driving with a revoked or suspended license after police say he hit and killed a pedestrian on I-495 near the Telegraph Road exit in the Rose Hill area.
According to the VSP, Morales was driving a 2003 Dodge Ram in the westbound lanes of I-495 around 3:38 a.m. when he veered off the left side of the interstate and hit Gregory Bruington, Jr., who was changing a tire on a 2017 Volkswagen Golf parked on the highway’s left shoulder.
Bruington, a 30-year-old man from Newport News, died at the scene, and a 24-year-old, female passenger in the Volkswagen “was seriously injured,” a police spokesperson said in an update this morning (Thursday).
“Nunez Morales suffered minor injuries,” state police said. “He was not wearing a seat belt.”
The crash occurred just minutes before a separate crash in the eastbound lanes of I-495 near the same exit that also killed a pedestrian.
Around 3:53 a.m., responding state troopers came across a woman identified as Vanessa Schwartz, a 35-year-old Alexandria resident, lying in the interstate.
The VSP later reported that Schwartz had stepped into traffic and was hit by the driver of a 2005 Honda Accord that was traveling east on I-495 in the right-center lane
“The Accord was then struck by a 2021 Acura RDX, and the Accord then struck the jersey wall. A 2023 Nissan Rogue then struck the RDX,” police said.
Schwartz died at the scene.
Both of Sunday’s crashes on I-495 remain under investigation.
Fairfax County police are also still seeking information about a third fatal pedestrian crash that took place shortly after midnight on Sunday in Mount Vernon. In that crash, the driver of a 2015 Hyundai Sonata that had been reported stolen allegedly hit James Johnson, 63, of Hybla Valley on Janna Lee Avenue and fled the scene.
ICYMI: Fairfax Connector Workers to Vote on Contract — Members of ATU Local 689, the union that represents Fairfax Connector bus drivers and mechanics, will vote today (Wednesday) on whether to ratify a tentative contract agreement with operator Transdev. If the deal is approved, it would end a nearly two-week-long strike that disrupted travel for thousands of bus riders. [FFXnow]
Ohio Murder Suspect Arrested in Springfield — “A man wanted on murder charges in Columbus, Ohio, was arrested in Fairfax County, Virginia, on Monday night after police said he fled from a traffic stop and struck multiple police vehicles before authorities took him into custody.” Police said the man and “multiple police officers sustained minor injuries during the arrest.” [WTOP]
Police ID Suspect in 1989 Homicide — “Police in Stafford and Fairfax counties say they arrested a suspect in the slayings of 18-year-old Amy Baker and 32-year-old Jaqueline Lord in 1989 and 1986, respectively.” Baker, a Stafford resident, disappeared while visiting family in Falls Church on March 29, 1989. Her family found her body two days later near the I-95 exit ramp to Backlick Road in Springfield. [Potomac Local News, FCPD]
Driver in Fatal Route 29 Crash Charged — A 22-year-old Fairfax resident has been arrested on DUI-related manslaughter and reckless driving charges for a fatal crash that occurred on Dec. 5 at the intersection of Route 29 and Clifton Road near Centreville. Police say the man was drunk and driving over 110 mph when he crashed into a Hyundai, killing Manassas resident Sohail Iqbal. [FCPD]
Dentist to Open Practice in Fort Belvoir — “Gentle Dental Fort Belvoir…will open soon at Belvoir Square and hold a ribbon cutting ceremony with refreshments March 16 at noon. The practice’s founder and general dentist, Dr. Duy Nguyen, graduated from Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke.” [On the MoVe]
Local Women-Owned Restaurants Join Festival — “More than 40 bars and restaurants around the D.C. region are celebrating Women’s History Month together…The third annual Women’s History Month Festival is the biggest celebration to date. It’s organized by the nonprofit group Regarding Her, which started in Los Angeles and now includes the women who own bars and restaurants in D.C.” [WTOP]
Rep. Don Beyer Proposes A.I. for Suicide Prevention — “The congressman said that he is trying to figure out a way to use artificial intelligence to improve suicide hotlines. After enrolling part-time at George Mason University to pursue a master’s in AI, to learn how to regulate its use, he said he realized that AI could be beneficial in other areas.” [ARLnow]
It’s Wednesday — Expect rain to begin mainly after 1pm, with patchy fog clearing by 8am and a high near 58°F. There’s a 90% chance of precipitation, with up to half an inch possible. Rain will continue mainly before 1am on Wednesday night, dropping to a low around 51°F. [Weather.gov]
Detectives have charged a 17-year-old boy with DUI-related manslaughter and maiming in a Nov. 20 crash that killed one teen and seriously injured four others in Fairfax County’s Idylwood area.
In a news release, Fairfax County police said the boy was driving under the influence in a 2003 Lincoln Aviator when he crested a hill on Shreve Road “at a high rate of speed” around 5 a.m. that morning.
The boy struck a tree near Pioneer Lane and the vehicle spun, ejecting the five teenage passengers, the release said. None were wearing seatbelts.
One of the teens died Nov. 27 from his injuries. The four other passengers were seriously injured and have since been released from the hospital.
On Thursday (Feb. 29), detectives obtained warrants charging the driver with DUI-related manslaughter, four counts of DUI maiming and refusal to take a breath test, the release said.
Last night, patrol officers arrested the driver at his Pimmit Hills home. He was held without bond at the Fairfax County jail. His name has not been released because he is a juvenile.
Image via Google Maps. This article was written by FFXnow’s news partner InsideNoVa.com and republished with permission, though the headline has been changed. Sign up for InsideNoVa.com’s free email subscription today.
A Lorton man was arrested earlier this week for shaking a dog, threatening its owner with a knife and driving wildly down Richmond Highway with police in pursuit.
According to the Fairfax County Police Department, Franconia District officers were called to the 9600 block of Eaton Woods Place in Lorton at 4:03 p.m. on Tuesday (Oct. 24) by a man who said he’d been threatened while walking his dog.
“The victim stated he was walking his dog when he was approached by the suspect,” the FCPD said in a news release published yesterday (Thursday). “The suspect then, without provocation, picked up and shook his dog. The suspect initially fled the area but later returned with a knife and threatened to stab the victim.”
Police say investigating officers were then “flagged down” by community members who reported that “someone was ramming vehicles and driving recklessly on the roadway.”
An officer encountered the suspect — identified as Daniel John Sol, 30, of Lorton — in a 2017 Black Toyota Yaris at the intersection of Richmond Highway (Route 1) and Telegraph Road, according to the police scanner traffic on Open MHz.
The officer told a dispatcher that the Toyota was “doing donuts” in the middle of the intersection and “facing the wrong way in traffic,” hitting multiple vehicles in the process.
“He flipped me off and is taking off,” the officer said, noting that the driver was “doing the speed limit” and suggesting that the people at the intersection get checked for possible injuries..
Per the scanner, the chase proceeded north on Route 1 for several miles with the Toyota driver “swerving in front of traffic, trying to cause an accident,” an officer said. Sol then turned onto Old Mount Vernon Road and crashed into a tree at the Ferry Landing Road intersection.
The chase covered 12.5 miles, and no injuries were reported, though several vehicles “sustained minor damage” before police arrived, according to the FCPD.
Currently held without bond at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, Sol has been charged with “Cruelty to Animals, Attempted Malicious Wounding, three counts of Assault on Law Enforcement/Fire/Medical Services, four counts of Felony Hit and Run, two counts of Reckless Driving, Felony Eluding, and Driving Under the Influence,” police said.
A Fairfax County police officer is under investigation for allegedly driving while intoxicated, causing a crash on Route 50 (Arlington Blvd) near Seven Corners.
Justin Faison, an officer assigned to the Mount Vernon District station, was arrested Saturday night (Aug. 19) after crashing into another vehicle near South Manchester Street at 1:41 a.m., the Fairfax County Police Department reported yesterday (Sunday).
There were seven people in the other vehicle. They were all transported to a nearby hospital to get treatment for what police described as “minor injuries.”
“The officer was off-duty and driving his personal vehicle at the time of the arrest,” the FCPD said.
Faison has been charged with a DUI and is now on administrative leave while the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau conducts an investigation, police said. He was sworn in as an officer last year.
The FCPD handled the crash even though it occurred just east of the county border, according to an Arlington County Police Department spokesperson, who said ACPD wasn’t involved in the response.
Image via Google Maps
Pedestrians were casualties of two separate vehicle crashes this past weekend, Fairfax County police reported.
A 26-year-old pedestrian was killed early Saturday morning (July 8) in Bailey’s Crossroads by an apparently intoxicated driver, and then, early this morning (Monday), a man was taken to the hospital after a crash on Fairfax County Parkway and Stringfellow Road in Chantilly.
The man wasn’t considered to be in life-threatening condition, but police described the crash as “serious” in a 12:06 a.m. tweet.
Officers are on scene of a serious car crash involving a pedestrian at Fairfax County Pkwy and Stringfellow Road. An adult male pedestrian was taken to the hospital in non-life-threatening condition. The road will remain closed while the investigation continues. #FCPD pic.twitter.com/tbqkdR3Axb
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) July 10, 2023
For the fatal crash, eastbound Columbia Pike was shut down for an extended period after the driver of a 2010 BMW hit Luis Fernando Jimenez Rodriguez at the Columbia Pike and Powell Lane around 2:13 a.m., according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
“Preliminarily, detectives determined that the driver of a 2010 BMW was traveling eastbound on Columbia Pike near Lincolnia Road when it struck a pedestrian,” the FCPD said.
The driver didn’t stop at the scene, police said. An officer who first arrived at the scene told a dispatcher that track marks stretched all the way to Barcroft Plaza, according to scanner traffic on Open MHz.
Police found the BMW in the 6100 block of Marshall Drive. Per the scanner, an officer identified it as the vehicle because he found blood on the front bumper.
The vehicle owner and alleged driver was Benjamin Lopez Encinas, 33, of Woodbridge, according to the FCPD.
Encinas has been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and is now in custody at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.
“Detectives continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding this crash,” the FCPD said.
Rodriguez appears to be the fifth pedestrian killed in Fairfax County this year, according to Virginia crash data, which shows that there were 16 pedestrian fatalities through July in 2022.
Concerns about the safety of Columbia Pike, which has now been the site of at least nine fatal crashes since 2010, have prompted Fairfax County to pursue some improvements, including a crossing beacon at the intersection where Justice High School student Lesly Diaz-Bonilla was killed in November.
(Updated at 4:25 p.m.) A rock fight disrupted a warm Saturday afternoon for two Vienna households last week, though who exactly was throwing the rocks is a matter of some dispute.
A resident in the 100 block of Patrick Street SE reported to police on May 20 that, around 5 p.m., a man threw rocks at his juvenile son, who was playing outside, according to the Vienna Police Department’s weekly recap for May 19-25.
“An officer spoke to the man who advised he was sitting on his balcony when a group of juveniles began throwing rocks at him, cursing, and calling him racial slurs,” the VPD said in its report.
The man denied throwing any rocks, telling the officer that “he took the rocks and placed them on a toy in front of the apartment the juveniles ran to.”
No injuries were reported, but the police explained the warrant process to both parties in case they decide to pursue charges.
In a separate incident, police arrested a 21-year-old man from Woodbridge who backed into an officer’s cruiser when he was pulled over for reckless driving at the intersection of Maple Avenue and East Street SE on May 21.
According to the recap, the officer initiated the traffic stop at 2:52 a.m. The driver pulled over to the side of the road and hit the police cruiser when he started to back up.
“Upon the officer’s interaction with the man, he detected signs of impairment,” police said. “The driver failed to complete a series of field sobriety tests and was placed under arrest.”
The man was taken to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center and charged with driving while intoxicated.
Other “highlights” from the past week include a report of Cedar Lane School student harassing a classmate and hitting a school bus driver, along with an apparent road rage incident:
Assault 23-004593
Cedar Lane School
101 Cedar Lane, SW
May 23 7:45 a.m.On May 24, the school administration reported a juvenile assaulted their school bus driver on May 23. The juvenile began harassing another student and, when the bus driver tried to intercede, the juvenile began striking him.
Arrest – Destruction of Property 23-004600
Lawyers Road and Malcolm Road, NW
May 24 3:10 p.m.A citizen was traveling northbound on Lawyers Road when he observed another vehicle driving erratically. When the citizen honked his horn at the other driver, the man cut his vehicle off. As they reached the stop sign at Lawyers and Malcolm, the other driver got out of his vehicle with a baseball bat and proceeded to hit the citizen’s side-view mirror, breaking it off. The man then fled the area.
Police identified the driver as a 23-year-old man and served a summons charging him with property destruction at his home on Laurel Ridge Road.
A Maryland driver is facing possible manslaughter and hit-and-run charges for a fatal, two-vehicle crash that occurred in Bailey’s Crossroads in May.
Tewodros Worku, 35, was arrested Monday (Dec. 19) by Fairfax County detectives and the Prince George’s County Sheriff’s Office, the Fairfax County Police Department announced yesterday.
According to the department, detectives with its Crash Reconstruction Unit determined that Worku was the driver of a 2018 Honda Accord that crashed into a 2016 Volkswagen Jetta on South George Mason Drive in front of Skyline Plaza on May 24, killing the Jetta’s passenger and hospitalizing two others.
“Worku originally ran from the scene of the crash. When found by our K-9 unit, he claimed to be a passenger. Detectives determined Worku was the driver of the Honda,” the FCPD said.
At the time, police reported that the Accord was traveling north on South George Mason when it hit the Jetta, which was going south and attempting to turn left into Skyline Plaza, a two-tower condominium complex.
Gladis Suyapa Deras, a 54-year-old Falls Church resident, died at the scene, becoming the fourth non-pedestrian to be killed in a crash on Fairfax County roads this year. The Jetta’s driver was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
According to police, the Accord driver and a passenger initially fled the scene, but they were located by K9 officers. One individual was arrested and charged with being drunk in public, while the other went to a hospital with injuries considered life-threatening.
The FCPD confirmed to FFXnow that Worku was the person arrested.
Fairfax County General District Court records show that an adjudicatory hearing was held on the misdemeanor charge on July 27. The prosecutor’s office opted not to pursue the charge, and Worku was released on a summons.
FCPD detectives have now obtained warrants for Worku charging him with DUI manslaughter and a felony hit-and-run. The warrants will be served and a trial date set once he’s extradited back to the county, the department said.
There have now been 19 fatal crashes on county roads this year that didn’t involve pedestrians, according to the FCPD. The most recent one came on Prosperity Avenue in Merrifield on Dec. 6.
Photo via Google Maps
A bus driver was indicted by a grand jury yesterday (Tuesday) for allegedly driving drunk while transporting D.C. kindergarten students home from a trip to Cox Farms in Centreville.
Troy Reynolds, 48, faces nine felony charges of child endangerment and three misdemeanor charges, including a second offense of driving while intoxicated, driving with a disqualified commercial license, and driving a bus without a commercial driver’s license, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano announced today.
“My office takes crimes that endanger children very seriously,” Descano said in the press release. “We’re grateful to our partners at the Fairfax County Police Department for their collaboration on this case.”
CA Descano announced that a grand jury indicted Troy Reynolds, 48, for charges related to driving a school bus full of kindergartners while intoxicated. pic.twitter.com/UAJZvcnjpF
— Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Descano (@FairfaxCountyCA) December 21, 2022
Reynolds was arrested on Oct. 27 after he reportedly drove a school bus carrying 44 students and four adults from Murch Elementary School off the road, hitting a rock and flattening a tire. Nine kids were injured, according to Descano’s office.
At the insistence of staff on board, the bus stopped in the 1500 block of Conference Center Drive in Chantilly, and the kids were transferred to the Fairfax Criminal Justice Academy, where two buses provided by Fairfax County Public Schools took them to D.C.
The FCPD said at the time that a test revealed that Reynolds had a blood alcohol content of .20. Officers also found that his commercial driver’s license had been revoked in Virginia due to a prior DWI and suspended in Maryland.
The case will go to trial tomorrow (Thursday), according to the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.
(Updated at 10 a.m.) A Springfield resident who was allegedly driving while drunk hit and killed a man whose vehicle became disabled on I-95 yesterday (Tuesday).
Identified as Jose Davi Hernandez-Zelayandia, 35, of Woodbridge, the victim had stopped to assess his 2011 Honda Accord on the shoulder of the interstate’s southbound lanes at the exit to Old Keene Mill Road in Springfield, Virginia State Police said in a news release.
At 3:06 p.m., he started to get back into the car when “a 2022 Nissan Sentra ran off the road and struck him,” according to police.
“The Nissan then attempted to leave the scene, but was stopped by witnesses,” the VSP said.
Hernandez-Zelayandia was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he died from his injuries.
The Nissan driver, 61-year-old John O. Hess, was not injured, according to state police, which has a crash reconstruction team assisting with the investigation. He has been arrested and charged with a DUI and felony hit-and-run.
Hernandez-Zelayandia is the fourth pedestrian killed in Fairfax County this month, following fatal crashes in Fair Oaks on Sunday (Oct. 9), on Richmond Highway in Fort Belvoir last Thursday (Oct. 6), and in Annandale on Oct. 2.
