Peter McCandless was living a full life of music, travel and work that he enjoyed when he was killed in a vehicle crash on Reston Parkway late last year.
Police reported that McCandless, 87, died on Dec. 26, 2023 after an SUV driver hit him while he was walking at the Market Street intersection. A preliminary investigation indicated that he was crossing from Reston Town Center to Stratford House, where he lived, according to his son, Kris McCandless.
“We’re hoping that it was quick, not a lot of pain,” Kris said, adding that he doesn’t blame the driver given the limited visibility when the crash occurred around 7 a.m. “…That was rough conditions. It was a true accident.”
The circumstances of the crash remain under investigation, according to the Fairfax County Police Department, which says anyone with information can contact its Crash Reconstruction Unit at 703-280-0543.
Described by his son as a “true people-person,” Peter Lee McCandless grew up in the Midwest but spent much of his life in Reston, where he kicked off a career in public relations in 1964 as an early employee of Reston founder Robert E. Simon’s Palindrome Corporation.
When McCandless moved to Herndon that year with his wife, Nan Muehl, and Kris, his only child, Simon’s vision of Reston as a planned, inclusive community developed around a central plaza was just starting to take shape.
As Palindrome’s 20th employee, McCandless was tasked with promoting the new town of Reston, and he continued that work throughout his career, which included the founding of his own Reston-based PR agency, The McCandless Company, in 1984.
His legacy in Reston also includes helping start the Reston Chorale in 1967.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1936 to Lee and Mary McCandless, McCandless graduated from Principia College in 1958. He then joined the U.S. Army and taught English in Turkey for three years before enrolling in Yale University’s School of Drama for a year.
He met and fell in love with Muehl after returning to St. Louis in 1962. The following year, they got married, and Muehl gave birth to Kris.
After Muehl died from cancer in 2010, McCandless met Susan Ehart, the woman who would become his second wife, in 2014. That October, he moved into Stratford House in Reston after living in Lovettsville for the preceding 16 years.
Eager to start a new chapter in his life, he frequently traveled on ocean cruises with Ehart, visiting Europe, the Mediterranean, Asia, South America and Australia. The couple contemplated opening their own Great Harvest Bread franchise, but McCandless ultimately opted to work at the company’s existing store in Herndon instead.
According to his son, McCandless loved working at Great Harvest Bread, where he held nearly every position and was warmly embraced by regular customers. He was an employee at the bakery until his death.
After returning to Reston, McCandless also sang with the Reston Chorale and at the First Church of Christ, Scientist, Reston. His other passions included traveling and being outdoors, art and photography.
McCandless is survived by Ehart, Kris and his stepdaughter, Sarah. A Celebration of Life will be held for him this Saturday, Jan. 13, from 10 a.m. to noon at Reston Community Center — Lake Anne (1609-A Washington Plaza).
A woman died last night (Wednesday) after crashing into a tow truck that was responding to an earlier multi-vehicle collision on I-66, the Virginia State Police announced this morning.
Troopers were called first at 6:31 p.m. yesterday to a “chain reaction crash” that involved three vehicles in the westbound lanes of I-66 at the 51-mile marker in the Centreville area.
“One driver suffered minor injuries, but declined treatment,” police said.
However, police were called just minutes later, around 6:49 p.m., to a second three-vehicle crash on I-66 West near the exit to Nutley Street outside Vienna
“A tow truck was responding to the original crash and had slowed to a stop when it was rear-ended by a Jeep Compass SUV,” the VSP said. “The impact of the crash caused the Jeep to spin out into the westbound travel lane and strike a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.”
The Jeep driver was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where she died from her injuries later in the evening, according to police. The tow truck driver was also hospitalized with injuries not considered life-threatening.
The Toyota pickup driver didn’t report any injuries, police said.
The crash near Nutley Street completely shut down both the regular and express lanes on westbound I-66. The lanes didn’t fully reopen until around 11 p.m., according to Twitter updates from the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Police are also investigating a third, separate crash that occurred on I-66 East before Route 50 at 7:35 p.m. yesterday. One driver was transported to a hospital after a two-vehicle crash near the 56-mile marker, a VSP spokesperson said.
Image via VDOT traffic camera
Local police have released additional details about this week’s crash that resulted in the death of a pedestrian on Reston Parkway.
Peter McCandless, 87, was killed after he attempted to cross the southbound lanes of Reston Parkway at Market Street shortly after 7 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 26, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
“McCandless was walking inside the crosswalk but crossed against the signal,” police said.
The driver of a 2017 Mercedes ML350 was going south on Reston Parkway before Market Street in the right lane when they hit McCandless, who was walking from west to east. McCandless was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Mercedes driver and the passenger both remained at the scene of the crash.
“Detectives continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the crash,” the FCPD said. “Alcohol was deemed to not be a factor in this crash and speed is still under investigation.”
This is the ninth fatal pedestrian crash this year. Fairfax County police recorded 23 fatal pedestrian crashes by this time in 2022, though the final death toll was a record high of 32 when including crashes on highways and the Dulles Toll Road.
Updated at 3:15 p.m. — Southbound Reston Parkway has reopened at Market Street after an extended closure due to this morning’s fatal pedestrian crash, police say.
Earlier: A pedestrian was killed in a crash on Reston Parkway earlier this morning (Tuesday).
Police said at 8:16 a.m. that a vehicle hit the adult man on Reston Parkway near Market Street in Reston. The man was taken to the hospital, where he died.
The driver remained on the scene of the incident, which occurred around 7:14 a.m., according to scanner traffic on Open MHz. A dispatcher described the vehicle as a gray Mercedes.
The southbound lanes of Reston Parkway are closed.
“Crash reconstruction detectives are investigating,” the Fairfax County Police Department said. “…Please avoid the area.”
Crash Reconstruction detectives are investigating. Reston Parkway SB is closed. Please avoid the area. [2/2]
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) December 26, 2023
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
A man who fell while riding a motorized scooter in Reston in late November died from his injuries.
Malcolm Printup, 46, of Reston crashed his electric scooter at the intersection of Town Center Parkway and Town Center Parkway on Nov. 26 at around 2:45 p.m.
Printup was hospitalized for life-threatening injuries and was later pronounced dead, the Fairfax County Police Department recently confirmed to FFXnow. No other vehicles were involved in the crash.
It’s unclear what caused the crash.
The FCPD declined to release the death investigation.
“The completed death investigation may only be released to the parent or spouse of the decedent or, if there is no living parent or spouse, to the most immediate family member of the decedent,” FCPD wrote in a statement.
(Updated at 5:45 p.m.) Speed was likely a factor in yesterday’s fatal two-car crash on Route 29, the Fairfax County Police Department says.
Sohail Iqbal, 30, of Manassas died at the scene after the driver of a 2013 BMW M3 plowed into his Hyundai Sonata around 12:24 a.m. at the intersection of Route 29 and Clifton Road, just outside Centreville, the police department reported today (Wednesday).
The BMW driver was taken to a hospital with injuries considered life-threatening. The driver is still in the hospital, as of this afternoon, the FCPD confirmed.
The BMW was traveling at a speed that’s believed to have contributed to the seriousness of the crash, according to police.
“Detectives continue to investigate to determine if alcohol was a factor in the crash,” the FCPD said.
According to the FCPD, a preliminary investigation by its Crash Reconstruction Unit detectives indicates that the BMW driver was headed south on Stringfellow Road when they collided with the Hyundai, which was traveling south on Route 29.
“The collision forced the Hyundai across the intersection, onto the embankment, and into a concrete utility pole foundation,” the FCPD said.
The crash damaged the pole, requiring repairs to a traffic signal that blocked lanes on Route 29 until around 4:20 p.m. that day, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation. Scanner traffic indicated that the BMW ended up in a 7-Eleven parking lot (13305 Route 29) just over the border in Clifton.
Iqbal appears to be the 39th person killed in a traffic crash in Fairfax County this year, nine of them pedestrians, according to Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles data. There were 66 fatalities in 2022 — the most since the database launched in 2010.
The FCPD says there have been 19 fatal vehicular crashes in 2023 so far, matching the number seen last year.
Image via VDOT/Twitter
One driver was killed and another hospitalized with serious injuries in a two-car crash on Route 29 in the Clifton area early this morning (Tuesday).
A Fairfax County police officer reported at 12:25 a.m. that he “just had a vehicle roll over in front of me at the Clifton 7-Eleven,” describing an occupant as “trapped and unresponsive,” according to scanner traffic on Open MHz.
Police confirmed to the dispatcher that the crash involved two cars, and both drivers were found unconscious.
“Two four-door vehicles, we have one up in the 7-Eleven parking lot, extensive intrusion, T-bone accident,” a Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department responder reported at 12:30 a.m., per the scanner. “We also have a second vehicle into the traffic pole, on its wheels again, in the intersection.”
One of the drivers — an adult man — was pronounced dead at the scene, while the other was taken to a hospital with injuries initially considered life-threatening, the Fairfax County Police Department said at 1:16 a.m.
The Route 29 and Clifton Road intersection was closed as the department’s Crash Reconstruction Unit investigated. The hospitalized driver’s condition was later upgraded to non-life-threatening, the FCPD reported in an update at 4 a.m.
The intersection didn’t reopen to traffic until shortly before 8:30 a.m., according to police.
Officers investigating a 2 car crash on Clifton Rd/Lee Hwy in Clifton. One driver, an adult male, was pronounced deceased at the scene and other driver taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. The intersection of Clifton Rd/Lee Hwy closed. Please avoid the area #FCPD pic.twitter.com/8DNjbzAbrE
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) December 5, 2023
Image via Google Maps
One of the passengers in last week’s SUV crash off of Shreve Road in Idylwood has died, Fairfax County police announced today (Monday).
Six people — all of them between 14 and 17 years old — were hospitalized with injuries seen as life-threatening after their 2003 Lincoln Aviator careened over a hill and crashed into a tree at the Pioneer Lane intersection on Nov. 20, according to police.
A preliminary investigation indicated that the impact sent the vehicle into a tailspin, ejecting five of its seven occupants, who police said were not wearing seatbelts.
Four passengers remain in the hospital, while one has been released, the Fairfax County Police Department said in today’s update.
“Detectives from our Crash Reconstruction Unit are continuing to investigate and working closely with the Office of the Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney to determine when charges will be placed,” the FCPD said.
Police have said they believe alcohol and excessive speed were factors in the crash, initially moving to charge the 17-year-old driver with driving under the influence. However, after consulting with prosecutors, the FCPD decided to wait to file charges.
On the day of the crash, a spokesperson for the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office declined to comment, since “it is an active and pending matter.”
Because they’re all juveniles, the crash victims haven’t been identified by police. According to the FCPD, the teen who died is the 17th person to be killed this year in a crash on Fairfax County roads that didn’t involve a pedestrian, nearly equaling the 19 such fatalities reported in 2022.
The 16th fatality for 2023 occurred yesterday (Sunday) in a single-vehicle crash near Cox Farms in Centreville.
From the FCPD press release:
At 4 a.m. yesterday, officers responded to a single-vehicle crash in the 15600 block of Braddock Road in Centreville. Officers and Fairfax County Fire and Rescue personnel found the 2017 Jaguar XF fully engulfed in flames and quickly worked to extinguish the flames. The driver and lone occupant, Emmanuel Alexander, 28, of Aldie was pronounced deceased at the scene.
Detectives are continuing to investigate to determine if speed and alcohol were factors in the crash.
Image via Google Maps
A Maryland man died early yesterday (Sunday) morning after crashing into the jersey barrier at the Old Keene Mill Road and Backlick Road intersection in Springfield.
Issac Garcia Mendoza, 21, of Oxon Hill was seen driving north on Backlick “at a high rate of speed” around 1:21 a.m., according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
“Mendoza failed to turn onto Old Keene Mill Road and struck the barrier head-on,” the FCPD said in a news release yesterday.
Mendoza, who was driving a 2019 Nissan Rogue, died at the scene of the single-vehicle crash, police said.
At 1:28 a.m., an officer asking for units to shut down Backlick Road said witnesses reported that Mendoza had been driving “about 100 mph and went straight through to the jersey barrier,” according to the police scanner on Open MHz.
Per scanner traffic, Mendoza was pronounced dead at 1:31 a.m.
Police are still investigating whether alcohol or drugs might’ve been a factor in the crash, in addition to speed.
Mendoza is the 15th person to die in a crash not involving pedestrians in Fairfax County this year, the FCPD says. There had been 20 non-pedestrian fatal crashes at this point in 2022.
Detectives from our Crash Reconstructive Unit are on scene of a single-vehicle fatal crash at Backlick Rd and Old Keene Mill Rd in Springfield. The motorist, an adult man, was pronounced deceased on scene.
Preliminary, speed was a factor. Please avoid area. #FCPD pic.twitter.com/p0gHyTZkd4— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) November 19, 2023
Image via Google Maps
