A man who allegedly stole a medical transport vehicle from Inova Fairfax Hospital last week has been located and arrested, Fairfax County police announced over the weekend.
Rickey Lowe, 32, of Manassas was arrested on Friday (Feb. 23) by Fugitive Tracking and Apprehension Unit detectives who found him “near a hotel in Manassas,” the Fairfax County Police Department said in a news release on Saturday (Feb. 24).
According to police, Lowe was a passenger in a 2015 Toyota Corolla that was reported stolen from Prince William County on Feb. 14. When officers spotted the sedan near Fair Oaks Mall at around 12:30 p.m. on Feb. 19, the driver took off, reportedly speeding out of the mall parking lot and onto eastbound Route 50.
“The driver quickly changed directions and drove towards the westbound I-66 ramp,” the FCPD said in an earlier news release. “The driver lost control of the Corolla, entered the embankment, and struck a small hill sending it airborne. The vehicle landed against a concrete wall on the exit ramp of westbound I-66 toward Route 50 eastbound.”
All five occupants of the Corolla were hospitalized with injuries, but while receiving treatment, Lowe allegedly left the emergency room at Inova Fairfax Hospital “in his medical gown with an IV still in his arm and then stole an ‘MMT’ Medical Transport vehicle,” police said.
The vehicle was later found in the 4200 block of Annandale Road in Annandale, but officers didn’t locate Lowe.
Upon his arrest on Friday, Lowe was transported to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, where he was held on a $2,000 bond. He has been charged with grand larceny.
The driver of the Corolla — identified by police as Xxeavius Romoance Marlow, 29, of Manassas — has also been charged with grand larceny. After getting treated for injuries from the crash, he was taken to the county jail, where he’s currently in custody without bond.
Fairfax County General District Court records indicate that Lowe remains in custody after an arraignment this morning. He faces a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 29, while Marlow’s preliminary hearing will be held on June 12.
(Updated at 8:15 p.m.) Fairfax County police combed Annandale last night for a man who reportedly stole an ambulance while getting treated at Inova Fairfax Hospital after a vehicle crash off I-66 near Fair Oaks.
The crash occurred at the eastbound Route 50 ramp to westbound I-66 around 12:30 p.m. yesterday (Monday) when officers attempted to stop a 2015 Toyota Corolla that was identified as stolen from another jurisdiction, according to the Fairfax County Police Department and scanner traffic on Open MHz.
The officers saw the driver pulling out of a Fair Oaks Mall parking lot when he spotted them and “accelerated at a high rate of speed,” the FCPD said in an update.
“The driver quickly changed directions and drove towards the westbound I-66 ramp,” the police department said. “The driver lost control of the Corolla, entered the embankment, and struck a small hill sending it airborne. The vehicle landed against a concrete wall on the exit ramp of westbound I-66 toward Route 50 eastbound.”
The crash was captured on traffic camera video shared by public safety watcher Dave Statter.
NEW: According to police, the person who stole the ambulance at Inova Fairfax is one of the five people injured in this crash of a stolen car today at Route 50 and I-66 in Fair Oaks. @FairfaxCountyPD handling. More to come. Video of the crash from @safetyvid. @ffxnow… pic.twitter.com/F3RuaZYT5v
— Dave Statter (@STATter911) February 20, 2024
According to the FCPD, all five of the vehicle’s occupants received first aid, and four of them were taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital, one with injuries initially considered life-threatening.
However, while getting treated at the hospital, one of the passengers left and took off in a private ambulance.
“While not yet discharged, he walked away from treatment with an IV in arm, jumped in a private transport ambulance and stole it,” the FCPD said in a tweet at 10:29 p.m.
The ambulance was located in the 4200 block of Annandale Road in Annandale that evening, but the man who allegedly stole it still hasn’t been found, despite “an extensive search” by Fairfax and Prince William County police officers, according to the FCPD.
Identified by police as Rickey Lowe, 32, of Manassas, the man is now wanted for grand larceny in connection to the ambulance’s theft.
The FCPD says that two guns, a bag of “unknown white powder” and drug paraphernalia were found in the Corolla that crashed at the I-66 and Route 50 interchange. The driver remains hospitalized and has been charged with grand larceny.
Preliminarily, the vehicle returned as stolen from another jurisdiction & a firearm has been recovered. Rt. 50 eastbound and Rt. 50 westbound ramps to I66 are closed as the investigation continues. Please use an alternate route. (2/2) #FCPD
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) February 19, 2024
Suspect was a passenger in the crash earlier on I66 and receiving treatment at Fairfax Hospital. While not yet discharged, he walked away from treatment with an IV in arm, jumped in a private transport ambulance and stole it. (1/2)
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) February 20, 2024
Officially, Fairfax County doesn’t have a Lee Highway or Lee-Jackson Memorial Highway anymore, but months after the names were dropped, they can still be seen on street signs throughout both corridors.
By the end of this month, that should no longer be the case — at least for smaller signs, the Fairfax County Department of Transportation says. A contractor is replacing the small blue signs at street corners with ones identifying the roadways as Route 29 and Route 50, respectively.
“This work is underway, and we anticipate this work to be complete by the end of November,” FCDOT Head of Communications Freddy Serrano told FFXnow.
The process of replacing larger, overhead directional signs, however, isn’t expected to begin until next year.
Getting those signs made and installed will be the Virginia Department of Transportation’s responsibility, though the county is covering all of the costs. A VDOT spokesperson says the department hopes to finalize an agreement with a contractor by the end of this year.
“It will involve 110 signs and it should take about two years to complete from the start of the contract that is anticipated to start in Jan. 2024,” VDOT said by email.
According to Serrano, a preliminary schedule from VDOT estimates that the overhead sign replacements will be finished by the end of 2025.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted on Sept. 13, 2022 to stop referring to routes 29 and 50 as Lee and Lee-Jackson Memorial, names adopted in the early 20th century as nods to Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.
Instead of giving the roadways entirely new names, as Arlington County did with its Route 29 segment in 2021, the board opted to use the route numbers to reduce confusion and the cost of new street signs. FCDOT staff previously said changing the signs would be more challenging for longer names.
At the time of the vote, county staff estimated that the sign updates would cost about $1.4 million. It cost about $46,000 for FCDOT’s contractor to fabricate and install the corner street signs, according to Serrano.
“Most of the costs of the sign replacement will be VDOT’s replacement of the larger overhead signs,” he said. “FCDOT will not have an updated cost estimate for that portion of the sign replacement until VDOT begins their preliminary design.”
County staff estimated it would take another $1.5 million to fund grants to help affected property owners cover expenses for updating business licenses, land records and other documents, as recommended by the Confederate Names Task Force that reviewed the proposed renamings.
On its website, FCDOT says the county “is developing” a financial assistance program, but Serrano confirmed to FFXnow that “the proposed grant program for businesses has not been approved at this time.”
The county updated addresses in its records to reflect the name changes, including for property taxes and voter registrations, on July 5.
A teen has suffered potentially life-threatening injuries in a crash on Route 50 near the Mosby neighborhood in West Falls Church.
Police and emergency medical personnel were dispatched to Route 50 (Arlington Blvd) at Annandale Road shortly before 8:30 p.m., according to scanner traffic on Open MHz.
“It looks like there’s a 13-year-old patient that’s unconscious. They are breathing,” a dispatcher told police at 8:28 p.m.
The teen was a pedestrian and has been transported to a hospital, the Fairfax County Police Department said. It’s unclear what vehicle was involved, but police said the driver stayed at the scene.
Eastbound Route 50 has been closed, and police are advising community members to avoid the area.
Officers are on scene of a crash involving a pedestrian at Rt. 50 and Annandale Rd in West Falls Church. The pedestrian, a juvenile teen, was transported in life threatening condition. Driver stayed on scene. EB Rt. 50 is closed, please avoid the area. #FCPD pic.twitter.com/GGdbhmpB5a
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) October 20, 2023
Map via Google Maps
The vacant Fuddruckers building along Route 123 (Chain Bridge Road) in Fairfax City may not be standing for much longer.
The site at 3575 Chain Bridge Road, which has been empty since the burger joint closed in 2017, is being eyed for a potential mixed-use development that would also encompass the adjacent Exxon gas station and Tobacco Hut lots, covering about 2.3 acres total at the corner of Chain Bridge and Fairfax Blvd (Route 50).
While no formal application has been submitted yet, a development concept is scheduled to be presented to the Fairfax City Council at a work session tonight (Tuesday). It went to the city’s planning commission for feedback on Sept. 25.
According to a staff report, the potential concept from Chain Bridge LLC would transform the site with an 8-story, mixed-use building featuring about 271 apartments and 2,253 square feet of retail uses on the ground floor.
The project would also include a five-level, 316-space parking garage, approximately 1,662 square feet of open space on Chain Bridge Road and two new streets: a Northfax Street extending east from Chain Bridge and a not-yet-named north-south road off of Fairfax Blvd.
“This mixed-use development aims to transform the current car-centric commercial area into a vibrant urban block. The mid-rise structure will place retail, residential lobby, and amenity areas along Northfax Street’s extension,” Justin Johnson, vice president of real estate development for JM International, wrote in a Sept. 11 letter to the city.
The letter indicates that the residential units will be apartments, averaging 775 square feet in size. About 65% of the units will be studio or one-bedroom apartments, and the remaining units would have two bedrooms. The applicant says it would commit to making 6% of the units affordable in accordance with the city’s still relatively new Affordable Dwelling Unit program.
Johnson said the proposal “aligns with the vision of creating a bustling pedestrian-focused pathway along Northfax Street,” as laid out by the Northfax Small Area Plan that the city council approved in June 2020.
According to the letter, the property owner had reached a lease agreement with a new tenant for the Fuddruckers building in May when the city’s Economic Development team contacted them to “relay the City’s eagerness to see the Fuddruckers demolished and the road network extended as soon as possible.”
At last week’s briefing on the concept, the planning commission raised concerns about the building’s height and limited retail space.
The property owner looked at providing up to 3,000 square feet of retail, but determined that “unfortunately eats away at the needed residential lobby and amenity space,” Johnson said.
In order to make the development work, JM International says it would need a density increase of up to 125 units per acre, a 33% reduction from the city’s residential parking requirement, a waiver from parallel parking on the new north-south street and “a moderate amount” of retail frontage adjacent to Chain Bridge.
The garage parking spaces would be broken down into 305 spaces for residents and 11 for the retail. The concept also proposes 12 parallel parking spaces off-site along Northfax Street.
Without the requested incentives, the project risks “becoming merely a standalone retail location,” the letter said.
In addition to replacing a gas station and underutilized retail buildings with housing, the proposed concept would improve the site’s accessibility and ease traffic congestion between Old Town Fairfax and I-66 with the Northfax Street extension, according to the developer.
“By replacing an aging structure situated at a key intersection, the project introduces additional residents and rejuvenates the area,” Johnson wrote. “Given these compelling features, the project holds a high likelihood of realizing its envisioned success.”
(Updated at 12:35 p.m.) A pedestrian died last night (Sunday) after being hit by a driver on the Capital Beltway (I-495) near Merrifield, Virginia State Police say.
The state police responded to calls about a pedestrian being struck on a northbound I-495 service road to Route 50 around 9:14 p.m., according to a VSP spokesperson.
Identified as Douglas C. Haskett II, a 55-year-old Ashburn resident, the pedestrian was hit by the driver of a Chevrolet Traverse, who fled the scene. Haskett died at the scene, according to police.
A dispatcher asked for any unit on the Beltway that could “check on a pedestrian walking in the road,” according to scanner traffic on Open MHz.
“There’s people standing on that ramp north to 50,” the dispatcher told the responding troopers.
Troopers shut down the ramp from Gallows Road, reporting that there were “multiple vehicles” on the scene. However, the vehicle responsible for the crash was not present, a trooper told the dispatcher.
At 9:39 p.m., a Fairfax County police officer said they had “received a call from a citizen who believes he might be the hit-and-run driver,” according to the scanner.
“During the course of the crash investigation, state police were notified by Fairfax County Police that they had received a call from the driver of the Chevrolet,” VSP spokesperson Corinne Geller confirmed in an update around 12:20 p.m. today (Monday).
The call came from a parking garage in the Mosaic District. Upon locating the Chevrolet in the garage, troopers arrested the driver — Brian C. Diffell, 46, of Falls Church — and charged him with a felony count of hit-and-run.
“The investigation remains ongoing and in consultation with the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney,” Geller said.
#Merrifield: crash has ramp closed from Gallows Rd onto I-495 NB. No delays on interstate. Reconstruction en route. Please use alternate route. #VaTraffic pic.twitter.com/pdWeZYWvtY
— VDOT Northern VA (@VaDOTNOVA) September 25, 2023
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
(Updated at 6:30 p.m. on 8/13/2023) An 85-year-old man died Friday (Aug. 11) after getting seriously injured in a three-vehicle crash on Arlington Blvd (Route 50) in Merrifield.
Paul Hession, a resident of the Churchill neighborhood in the McLean area, was a passenger in a 2015 Toyota Camry that was turning left from westbound Arlington Blvd to Stonehurst Drive around 11:44 a.m. on Friday, the Fairfax County Police Department said in a news release on Saturday (Aug. 12).
“The driver of a second vehicle, a 2010 Toyota Prius, traveling eastbound on Arlington Boulevard, struck the Camry in the intersection,” police said. “After the initial collision, the Camry struck a third car, a 2023 Mercedes-Benz Eqs300, that was stopped at the intersection.”
Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department units were dispatched to the scene of the crash around 11:58 a.m., according to scanner traffic on Open MHz. At least one person had to be extricated from their vehicle.
Hession was taken to an area hospital, where he died. The drivers of all three vehicles were also hospitalized with injuries not considered life-threatening.
Virginia Department of Transportation traffic cameras showed vehicle backups on Route 50 approaching Pickett Road, where police directed traffic at the Fairfax City border.
The crash occurred as other police and fire units were busy investigating a major two-vehicle crash on Route 50 at I-66 near Fair Oaks Mall. Route 50 was fully closed there, and both drivers were initially considered to be in life-threatening condition, the FCPD said.
#FCPD is investigating a three vehicle crash in Merrifield, on eastbound Arlington Blvd near Stonehurst Dr. Eastbound Arlington Blvd is closed while the investigation continues. One adult man take to the hospital in life threatening condition. Please use an alternate route. pic.twitter.com/DmeXcdwLsz
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) August 11, 2023
Updated at 6:40 p.m. on 8/13/2023 — Fairfax County police have determined that the crash on Route 50 started when the driver of a 2007 Jeep Laredo rear-ended a 2023 Lexus. The driver then hit a Land Rover and a guardrail, drove across the grass median and went airborne, striking a 2009 Ford U-Haul Truck.
The Jeep and U-Haul drivers were hospitalized with injuries initially considered life-threatening, but their condition has since been changed to non-life-threatening.
Police are still investigating whether alcohol, drugs or speed were a factor in the crash.
Updated at 3:30 p.m. — Route 50 has reopened to traffic, according to police.
Earlier: Two people have been taken to the hospital after a two-vehicle four-vehicle crash at the Route 50 and I-66 interchange near Fair Oaks Mall.
Eastbound Route 50 has been shut down at West Ox Road as officers investigate the crash, according to the Fairfax County Police Department. The eastbound I-66 ramp to eastbound Route 50 and the I-66 West ramp to westbound Route 50 have also been closed.
Police initially reported that one person had been transported to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, but a later update stated that both drivers were in critical condition.
A Fairfax Alert on the road closure described the crash as “significant.”
The Virginia Department of Transportation advises drivers to expect delays. Its traffic camera system indicates that the east left and right shoulders of Route 50 are closed.
Officers are on scene of a two vehicle crash on Rt. 50 near I-66. I-66 EB ramp to Rt. 50 EB is shutdown for the crash investigation. One patient is being transported with injuries considered to be life-threatening. Expect delays. #FCPD pic.twitter.com/PNsyqL8mTT
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) August 11, 2023
According to scanner traffic on OpenMHz, the incident involved two separate crash scenes with a Jeep Grand Cherokee and a U-Haul mini truck found overturned about a quarter-mile apart.
“We have a report of a Jeep Cherokee that flipped over the median with a female occupant still inside the vehicle,” a dispatcher told responders with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department at 11:11 a.m.
Per scanner traffic, the Jeep occupant had a broken arm and needed to be extricated.
The person who suffered life-threatening injuries was trapped in the driver’s front seat of the U-Haul. FCFRD responders reported that they had extricated the person around 11:35 a.m.
At least two other vehicles were reportedly involved in the crash, including an SUV that got flipped onto its driver’s side. The dispatcher reported at 11:38 a.m. that they got a call from someone who had pulled off at Route 50 and Waples Mill Road with two people in need of medical attention.
Map via Google Maps
A man shot his mother and himself in Seven Corners yesterday (Thursday), sending both of them to the hospital, Fairfax County police say.
Officers were dispatched to the Woodlake Towers condominiums at 6001 Arlington Blvd around 4:34 p.m. for the apparent domestic violence incident, according to scanner traffic on Open MHz.
A dispatcher relayed that a woman had called, saying her son shot her “in the arm, body and leg” and also shot himself.
Around 4:44 p.m., an officer at the scene reported that the shooter had been located with a gun in his hand.
“He shot himself in the head, and he shot the victim,” the officer said.
Both individuals were taken to the hospital with injuries that were initially considered life-threatening, according to the Fairfax County Police Department. Later, the woman’s condition was changed to non-life-threatening.
Police said there was “no apparent threat to the community.”
The victim's injuries are now considered non-life-threatening. Both the suspect and the victim remain hospitalized. Follow our blog, https://t.co/lhGv3NDvYs for any available updates. #FCPD
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) July 27, 2023
Photo via Google Maps
