A 27-year-old man from Maryland has been arrested following a police pursuit on Route 1 (Richmond Highway) that extended from Prince William County into Mount Vernon.
Based on a preliminary investigation, the man was driving a GMC Yukon that had been reported stolen from a Koons dealership on Richmond Highway at 10:30 a.m., a Prince William County Police Department spokesperson said.
When a Prince William County police officer approached the man and told him he was under arrest, the driver fled. Since the situation didn’t meet the department’s standards for pursuing a suspect, the officer instead alerted Virginia State Police and Fairfax County police to the fleeing vehicle.
A Virginia State trooper located the vehicle around 10:49 a.m.
“The GMC was on Route 1 in Prince William County heading north towards the Fairfax County line,” the VSP said. “The trooper activated his emergency lights and siren to initiate a traffic stop, but the GMC refused to stop and sped off.”
According to scanner traffic, the GMC drove the wrong way on Richmond Highway, heading north in the southbound lanes. During the chase, the driver “rammed” the pursuing trooper’s marked patrol SUV three different times, ultimately disabling the vehicle, the state police said.
Prince William County police officers, who were staying in sight of the chase to provide support, saw the GMC “make intentional contact” with the trooper’s cruiser, the Prince William police spokesperson said.
At 10:56 a.m., the driver bailed out of the GMC at Pole Road and Highland Lane in the Mount Vernon area, where he was taken into custody with the help of Prince William County police and a Fairfax County sheriff’s deputy.
The driver and the trooper were both taken to Inova Mount Vernon Hospital for medical evaluations “as a precautionary measure,” but no injuries were reported, state police said.
Charges from state police and Prince William County are pending, as an investigation into the case continues.
The speed limit on Richmond Highway (Route 1) has been permanently lowered through much of Fairfax County.
Starting next Tuesday (May 23), the legal limit will be reduced from 45 to 35 mph along a roughly 7-mile stretch between the Alexandria City limits at the Capital Beltway (I-495) and Jeff Todd Way/Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, the Virginia and Fairfax County transportation departments announced yesterday (Monday).
The departments said the change is designed “to optimize safety and operations for pedestrians, bicyclists, drivers and transit users” along a corridor that routinely sees devastating crashes.
Just this year, there have been at least 102 vehicle crashes on the Fairfax County section of Richmond Highway, injuring 75 people, according to state data. Prior to 2018, the total number of crashes consistently topped 400, peaking at 508 crashes in 2012.
So far in 2023, three people have been killed on the roadway: two pedestrians and a motorcyclist. Since 2011, there have been about 37 fatalities.
The Virginia Department of Transportation recommended in July 2022 that the speed limit be lowered after a year-long speed study found crashes occur more frequently on Richmond Highway than other primary highways in Northern Virginia, on average.
“The team also found that Richmond Highway between Buckman Road/Mount Vernon Highway and the Alexandria southern city limits had a higher incidence of pedestrian [and] bicycle crashes and speed-related crashes compared to other sections of Richmond Highway,” VDOT said.
However, the study recommended maintaining the existing 45-mph speed limit in the Fort Belvoir area from Belvoir Road to Jeff Todd Way. That 0.75-mile stretch had a lower crash rate, though about 50% of vehicles still exceed the speed limit, according to VDOT.
At a public meeting last summer, some community members raised concerns about the lower speed limit increasing congestion and questioned how effectively it’ll be enforced, but VDOT officials said the study indicated the change will have a “minimal” impact on traffic and allow tougher penalties on drivers who violate the limit.
Even a small decrease in vehicle speeds can lead to fewer serious crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. A 5-mph reduction from 40 mph, for example, will produce an estimated 34% reduction in crashes with injuries.
Signs showing the new speed limit will be placed along Richmond Highway on May 23, VDOT said. A final report on the speed study is expected to be finished around the middle of this year.
(Updated at 2 p.m. on 5/12/2023) A man from Newport News was killed during a struggle with police in Penn Daw where two officers fired their guns.
No officers were injured in the gunfire, which occured outside a McDonalds (6239 Richmond Highway), but one officer was hospitalized with head injuries from a fight with 38-year-old Brandon Lemagne prior to the shooting, the Fairfax County Police Department said.
“He was fighting for his life, literally,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said of the injured officer in a media briefing.
According to the FCPD, the encounter began when that officer got a license plate alert at 4:06 p.m. for a U-Haul truck that had been reported stolen in Richmond on May 3. The officer pulled into the Citgo gas station adjacent to McDonalds when Lemagne stopped the truck at the station and got out.
“He made contact with driver outside the vehicle,” Davis said. “Very shortly thereafter, the assailant — and that’s what I’m calling him — shoved our police officer into the open front driver’s door of the marked police car and was attacking him, was on top of him and was violently assaulting our uniformed Fairfax County police officer.”
At some point during the struggle, the police cruiser was put in reverse and drove backwards until it hit two vehicles parked at McDonalds.
Scanner traffic on Open MHz captured an officer yelling, “He’s got my gun” at 4:07 p.m., followed about 20 seconds later by shouts of “shots fired.”
According to police, two officers — a 24-year veteran and an 8-year veteran from the Mount Vernon District station — responded to the dispatch. The 8-year veteran fired “several rounds,” while the other pulled Lemagne off of the police officer, Davis said.
The 24-year veteran then fired his gun, hitting and killing Lemagne.
“Several shots fired. We got the guy,” an officer told the dispatcher.
The officer’s gun was recovered from the scene, and he was discharged from the hospital a day later.
Describing the incident as “pretty dramatic” and unlike anything he’s seen before, Davis noted that there was body-worn camera and surveillance footage of the incident. A video from what appears to be a cell phone has already been circulated on social media.
This is the second fatal shooting by Fairfax County police this year, after D.C. resident Timothy Johnson was killed outside Tysons Corner Center on Feb. 22.
“All officer involved shootings receive the utmost investigative attention from our internal affairs bureau and major crimes,” Davis said, later adding that “we certainly take the loss of any life very seriously.”
No officers were injured from the gunfire. Updates to follow.
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) May 11, 2023
— Romeo (@RVANOVA01) May 11, 2023
Inova Mount Vernon Hospital will open a new behavioral health unit next week, marking an expansion of mental health care along the Richmond Highway corridor.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held yesterday morning (Tuesday) for the nearly $10 million facility, which will increase bed capacity at the hospital by 67%.
Close to $4 million was donated by Amyia and Jeff Veatch, a local entrepreneur who founded the engineering firm Apex Systems. The family previously donated money to help modernize the hospital’s emergency room.
Hospital leaders and a number of elected officials attended the ceremony, including Rep. Don Beyer, State Sen. Scott Surovell, Del. Paul Krizek, Mount Vernon District School Board Rep. Karen Corbett Sanders, and Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck (who had to leave to vote on the county budget).
The Inova Veatch Family Behavioral Health Unit will open to hospital patients on May 16. It will feature 20 additional beds, private rooms, “quiet” spaces, modernized equipment, and enhanced safety features, like impact resistance windows and drywall.
Along with the hospital’s existing adult psychiatric unit, the total capacity for behavioral health patients will now be 50 beds.
As many noted during the ceremony, mental health care and behavioral services have become a priority in Fairfax County, as rates of depression and suicidal thoughts, specifically among young people, have risen drastically in recent years.
“We have a significant shortage of mental health services all over Virginia and especially acute here in Northern Virginia,” Surovell, who represents Hybla Valley, Woodlawn, and parts of Franconia, told FFXnow. “That’s the big reason we need to expand these services. If you don’t have a place for people to go when they need help, it can result in really tragic consequences.”
He called private contributions like the one made by the Veatch family “critical” to expanding care, particularly since behavioral services “are often not the most profitable areas for a hospital to invest in.”
But he said it’s also on the state to make the necessary investments as the need for mental health care continues to skyrocket.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has proposed $230 million in this year’s budget for addressing gaps in behavioral health services. Surovell said that doesn’t go far enough.
“This is about half of what we need because the state is so far behind in investing in behavioral health,” he said.
Mount District Supervisor Dan Storck agreed, stating at the ribbon-cutting that “we’ve never done enough” to provide mental health care both locally and across the country. Adolescent care in particular is lacking, he told FFXnow.
“We need more adolescent psychiatry units. Our adolescents are bearing the brunt of Covid,” Storck said. “They need more support than we can provide. Inova is stepping up in their Fairfax hospital, but that’s still inadequate to our adolescent needs.”
Beyer shared that his son suffers from schizophrenia and has been hospitalized “many times” at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital. The additional unit will hopefully provide care to more people in need like his son, he said.
While more resources are needed, the Veatch behavioral health unit and emergency room are potentially life savers for residents of the Richmond Highway corridor, Surovell said.
“They don’t have to travel to either Alexandria [City] or Franconia or Fairfax to get these services,” he said. “Having a facility that’s close can be the difference between life or death for a lot of people.”
(Updated at 3:50 p.m.) Two people suspected of carjacking in Maryland were arrested by Fairfax County and Maryland police yesterday (Sunday) after a pursuit that started on Richmond Highway (Route 1) and later crossed state lines.
Police are still on the lookout for two suspects, including one person who may have been wearing a Spider-Man mask or costume, the Fairfax County Police Department said today (Monday).
Around 5:22 p.m., officers came across a reportedly stolen BMW 535 in 7500 block of Richmond Highway in Hybla Valley after getting an automated license plate reader alert, according to radio traffic compiled by public safety scanner watcher Romero.
As three units closed in on the car, the driver took off onto Richmond Highway, “intentionally” hitting police cruisers and driving north in the southbound lanes at around 46 mph, police said. A police helicopter was called to join the chase as it entered Huntington.
The pursuit moved onto the Capital Beltway (I-495) into Maryland, getting Prince George’s County police and Maryland State Police involved.
At one point, the vehicle’s tire blew out, but the chase continued until the occupants bailed out around the exit to Morningside, Maryland. An officer reported that two guns were dropped in the highway median as at least two people ran into nearby woods.
One man was quickly taken into custody, while another was apprehended by 5:57 p.m. The police response blocked off the highway’s northbound lanes.
#FCPD Radio traffic for pursuit of suspects wanted for a carjacking in PG County who were spotted in the Mt. Vernon district of Fairfax County by way of LPR hit. CC: @ffxnow @FairfaxTimes @alanhenney @RealTimeNews10 @Killmoenetwork https://t.co/gqTBI5MMRq https://t.co/RdUBhBB7dX
— Romeo (@RVANOVA01) April 17, 2023
BREAKING NEWS: CARJACKED VEHICLE W/ CHASE AND APPREHENSION: Fairfax Co Pgpd and Morningside officers are canvassing the woods for 2 individuals after a bailout 2 suspects are in custody making it a total of 4 occupants a handgun also visible on the passenger seat.
Video kmnewz pic.twitter.com/ONd3t8S0sO
— Killmoenetwork inc. (@Killmoenetwork) April 16, 2023
The FCPD had initially reported — and scanner traffic suggested — that three people had been taken into custody, but Sgt. Jacob Pearce says it has now been determined that two people “got away.”
In addition to the man reportedly dressed like Spider-Man, the other suspects wore “patterned ski-masks,” Pearce told FFXnow.
The BMW had been carjacked in District Heights on April 9, according to the Prince George’s County Police Department, which says five firearms were found inside the vehicle.
Prince George’s has charged the two men currently in custody — identified as 21-year-old Terrell Talley and 18-year-old Marquette Staton — with unauthorized use of a vehicle and firearms offenses in connection to the carjacking.
Additional charges from Fairfax County are expected to be announced later.
(Updated at 7:55 p.m.) A pedestrian was killed this morning (Friday) in a crash on Richmond Highway (Route 1) near Fairfax County Parkway in the Fort Belvoir area.
Phillip Hester, 62, was walking on Richmond Highway at Anderson Lane when the driver of a 2008 Chevrolet Impala headed south hit him at 5:57 a.m., the Fairfax County Police Department reported.
Hester was then struck a second time by a 2014 Nissan Altima that was also southbound on Route 1, according to police.
“Both drivers remained at the scene,” the FCPD said. “Hester was declared deceased at the scene. Preliminary, speed and alcohol do not appear to be a factor for the drivers in the crash.”
Police say Hester was not in a crosswalk when the Impala hit him.
The crash prompted a closure of southbound Richmond Highway to the northbound lanes on Fairfax County Parkway. The highway reopened shortly before 10 a.m.
This is the third pedestrian fatality reported in Fairfax County this year and the second on Richmond Highway. At this point in 2022, the FCPD had recorded five pedestrian deaths.
The county has been studying options for improving Fairfax County Parkway down to the Route 1 intersection, finding that pedestrian and bicyclist facilities along the corridor are inadequate. The Board of Supervisors approved changes to the comprehensive plan for the roadway on March 21.
Southbound Richmond Hwy to northbound Fairfax County Pkwy is closed. Expect traffic delays. Please use an alternate route. #FCPD
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) April 7, 2023
(Updated at 1:25 p.m.) A 36-year-old Alexandria woman was killed last night (Thursday) after a driver who may have been speeding down Richmond Highway (Route 1) careened into her.
Samantha Jennings-Jones was walking on the sidewalk when a 2007 Mercedes C230 sedan hit her at 9:22 p.m. near the Clayborne Avenue intersection in Groveton, Fairfax County police said in a news release published today (Friday).
Based on a preliminary investigation, police say the Mercedes driver was headed south on Richmond Highway when they collided with a northbound 2017 Jeep Wrangler that was “attempting to make a left onto Clayborne Avenue.”
“The driver of the Mercedes struck the Jeep, left the roadway and spun around before striking Samantha Jennings-Jones,” the Fairfax County Police Department said.
Jennings-Jones died at the scene. She is the second pedestrian to be killed in a vehicle crash within the past seven days after Falls Church resident Ana Julia Acosta De Ostorga was hit while crossing Wilson Blvd in Seven Corners last Friday (March 24).
Prior to that crash, Fairfax County hadn’t seen any pedestrian fatalities in 2023. By this time last year, the FCPD had recorded five pedestrian-related fatal crashes.
“Preliminarily, speed appears to be a factor for the driver of the Mercedes in the crash. Detectives do not believe alcohol to be a factor,” the police department said regarding yesterday’s crash.
As they prepare to present details of the investigation to prosecutors for potential charges, police are still seeking additional information about the crash from community members.
Anyone with information about this crash is asked to contact our Crash Reconstruction Unit at 703-280-0543. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Crime Solvers by phone – 1-866-411-TIPS (866-411-8477), and by web – Click HERE. Download the ‘P3 Tips’ App “Fairfax Co Crime Solvers”. Anonymous tipsters are eligible for cash rewards. Please leave contact information if you wish for a detective to follow up with you.
According to state data, there have now been 10 fatal crashes involving pedestrians on Richmond Highway since 2020.
Photo via Google Maps
An armed woman who police say was experiencing a mental health crisis is now being held without bond at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.
The woman, who has been identified as 29-year-old Maryland resident Brittney Copelin, was taken into custody shortly after midnight today (Thursday), ending a shutdown of Richmond Highway in the Hybla Valley area that lasted about 34 hours.
While acknowledging that some business owners and community members grew frustrated by the duration of the barricade, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis described the handling of the situation as a positive reflection of how police practices have changed over the past decade.
“The reason it took so long was we wanted to get to the best possible outcome for a person involved in a mental health crisis, because that’s what this was,” Davis said at a press conference this afternoon.”There were certainly crimes committed, and we can get into that, but this was ultimately a person in a mental health crisis.”
The Fairfax County Police Department has charged Copelin with two counts of abduction, two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
She also faces multiple criminal charges in the City of Laurel, Maryland, where she lives in an apartment with a woman whom she has now been accused of abducting.
According to Davis, the saga began on Friday (March 24) when Copelin and the other woman, who hasn’t been publicly identified, left their apartment. The other woman’s mother filed a missing persons report with the Laurel Police Department on Sunday (March 26).
Around 11 a.m. on Tuesday (March 28), the Charles County Sheriff’s Office asked the FCPD to conduct a welfare check on a critical missing person in the 7200 block of Fordson Road, where officers encountered the woman who said she had been abducted.
The officers found Copelin in a 2016 Jeep SUV parked in the 7300 block of Richmond Highway, but when they approached the vehicle, she took off, leading to “a very brief, low-speed pursuit,” Davis said.
Coming to a stop on a service road for Richmond Highway and Lockheed Blvd, Copelin then took out a handgun and put it to her head, according to police.
Davis said the officers reacted appropriately by backing off once they saw the gun and calling in the department’s SWAT team. A roughly 1-mile stretch of Richmond Highway was closed between Lockheed Blvd and Boswell Avenue, as special operations officers, crisis negotiators and mental health clinicians arrived on the scene. Read More
Richmond Highway (Route 1) has been closed off to traffic in the Hybla Valley area for over eight hours now due to a woman who has barricaded herself in a vehicle with a handgun, police say.
Crisis negotiators and officers in the Fairfax County Police Department’s Special Operations Division are still working to resolve the situation in the 7400 block of Richmond Highway peacefully, the department said in a 7:33 p.m. update.
“A woman remains in a vehicle armed with a handgun,” the FCPD tweeted. “We continue to ask our community to avoid the area. Richmond Hwy remains closed between Lockheed Blvd and Boswell Ave.”
The woman is by herself, police confirmed. NBC4 reporter Brad Freitas said at 4:36 p.m. that a tactical robot was spotted passing the woman something in a plastic bag through the passenger side window.
We are still on scene of the barricade in the 7400 blk of Richmond Hwy. A woman remains in a vehicle armed with a handgun. We continue to ask our community to avoid the area. Richmond Hwy remains closed between Lockheed Blvd and Boswell Ave.
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) March 28, 2023
Woman still barricaded in a vehicle in Fairfax County has a firearm. A tactical robot passed her something in a plastic bag through passenger window. Richmond Highway remains closed between Boswell Ave and Lockheed Blvd #BreakingNews in #HyblaValley #vatraffic @nbcwashington pic.twitter.com/GDZCyd9dSH
— ʙʀᴀᴅ ꜰʀᴇɪᴛᴀꜱ (@Chopper4Brad) March 28, 2023
Police reported at 12:14 p.m. that a barricade had been established in the area “for a woman experiencing a mental health crisis.”
According to WUSA9, the Charles County Sheriff’s Office asked Fairfax County police to check for a critical missing person in the 7200 block of Fordson Road around 11 a.m.
Upon arriving, the officers encountered a woman who said she’d been abducted, per WUSA9.
While gathering more information from the woman, officers saw the abduction suspect leave the area in a 2014 black Jeep Cherokee. The suspect was also identified as a critical missing person.
After a short pursuit, police say the Jeep came to a stop in the 7400 block of Richmond Highway.
The driver refused to follow officer’s commands and barricaded herself inside the vehicle with a gun.
As of 7:30 p.m., Richmond Highway remained closed in both directions, resulting in approximately 1-mile-long traffic backups, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation’s traffic camera network.
Map via Google Maps
In the year 2030, travelers on The One — the dedicated bus service planned for the Richmond Highway (Route 1) corridor — will be able to wait for their next ride while taking in artwork designed by local students.
Proposed artwork for seven of the nine future Richmond Highway Bus Rapid Transit stations is now online, and county residents can share their preferences by filling out a survey that is open through April 3.
There will also be a drop-in open house on Wednesday (March 29) from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Mount Vernon High School.
Each work is based around themes selected with community input, according to the Fairfax County Department of Transportation. For example, the themes for the Hybla Valley station are retail hub, diversity and multiculturalism.
There are two artworks listed for that station. One features bright colors and “is meant to represent the past making way for the bright diverse future,” according to the included student narrative.
The other is sketched in black and white.
“Students focused on the passage of time, evolution of communication, and how the community has changed and evolved and become more diverse,” the student narrative reads, in part.
Student artwork for the Huntington, Kings Crossing and Beacon Hill stations comes from photography students at Hayfield Secondary School.
“These students created imagery responding to the theme PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE,” the booklet says. “It was their intention to educate citizens and visitors of the Route 1 corridor about the rich history of the land we stand on, while also preserving the present and looking towards the future of our changing community.”
The Woodlawn station got five art submissions — the most of any station. Designs for the Gum Springs and Hyland Center stations have not been completed yet.
Including artwork that reflects “the history, identity, and character of the neighborhoods surrounding each station area” is the goal of the “Community Charm” initiative, according to the Richmond Highway BRT page on the county’s website. The selected windscreen designs will be semi-permanent.
“Student artwork will inspire the first windscreen design, which may evolve or change over time,” the survey says.
Gathering feedback on the artwork is the fourth step in FCDOT’s work to finalize designs for the windscreen area at each station. Next, an executive committee will take a final vote and provide feedback to FCDOT and a consultant design team, which will then make any necessary adaptations to the works.
