It was quite a week in Alexandria.
It seems that nearly all of Monday’s news was overshadowed by the eclipse. Hundreds of bespectacled residents turned out at Ben Brenaman Park to witness the cosmic event.
Out top story this week was on the four-year-old autistic student at Jefferson-Houston Elementary School who walked away from the school and was found barefoot in a tunnel near the King Street Metro station. The head of school and academic principal were subsequently placed on administrative leave, and the child’s mother told us that she was thankful for her daughter’s safe return, but that she won’t be returning her to Jefferson-Houston.
On Tuesday, we also reported about a new seven-story residential development proposal in the Landmark area. A developer filed a permit to redevelop 6101 and 6125 Stevenson Avenue, which is currently an office building and parking lot, into a seven-story residential apartment building with 270 units, a 340-space parking garage and amenity space.
City Council has a full docket at their meeting this Saturday, and will vote on raising fees for ambulances, stormwater utilities and late car tax payments. Council will also consider the proposed residential redevelopment of the Vulcan Materials site in the West End.
The most-read stories this week were:
- Jefferson-Houston Elementary School administrators put on leave after autistic 4-year-old walked away from school (14934 views)
- Notes: City cancels eclipse viewing party in Old Town, but there’s another party at Ben Brenman Park (12016 views)
- JUST IN: 23-year-old Alexandria motorcyclist identified after fatal crash on Duke Street (9870 views)
- Motorcyclist dies after crash with DASH bus on Duke Street (6063 views)
- New seven-story residential development pitched for Landmark neighborhood (4766 views)
- Amazon Fresh in the Potomac Yard Shopping Center is still happening (4676 views)
- Police: Man released after getting stuck in harness on Seminary Road Bridge over I-395 (4258 views)
- Alexandria man charged with forcible sodomy and attempted rape in Old Town (3519 views)
- Del Ray bar Hops N Shine wants live outdoor music 10+ hours a day (3201 views)
- Alexandria’s Planet Fitness evacuated after emailed bomb threat (2930 views)
Have a safe weekend!
A motorcyclist is dead after crashing into a DASH Bus early this evening on Duke Street in Alexandria’s Landmark area.
A DASH bus driver announced via dispatch that the crash occurred at 5:07 p.m. He reported that the motorcyclist was speeding past the bus as it was turning onto N. Ripley Street.
The bus driver reported via dispatch that the motorcyclist was not moving. Minutes later, the motorcyclist was declared dead at the scene.
Duke Street from Paxton to South Walker Streets has been closed for several hours as the Alexandria Police Department’s crash reconstruction unit is investigating the incident.
The identity of the motorcyclist has not been released.
Traffic alert: Both directions of Duke at Paxton & Duke at Walker are shut down due to a fatal crash involving a motorcyclist and a bus. No injuries reported related to the bus. Investigators will be on-scene for several hours.
— Alexandria Police (@AlexandriaVAPD) April 9, 2024
⚠️Service Alert: Due to police activity, both directions of Duke St from Paxton to S. Walker are currently shut down. Bus Lines 30 & 32 are on detour and Line 35 is experiencing delays. For more information, visit https://t.co/9QRbAJaPLE⚠️
— DASH Bus (@DASHBus) April 10, 2024
The Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) announced a new crash tracker that lets Alexandrians and residents of other nearby localities track and report dangerous situations.
A release from WABA said the new tracker lets residents of Northern Virginia, Prince George’s County, Montgomery County and Washington D.C. report:
- Near-miss incidents
- Traffic crashes
- Cars parked in bike lanes
- Dangerous street locations
The tracker also lets reporters say when the incident happened, who was at fault (bicyclist, scooters, drivers, etc.), and who was affected. A map link at the bottom lets the person filing the report pinpoint exactly where it happened.
The release said the tool also lets people filing a report send it directly to local elected officials and the local department of transportation for wherever the incident took place.
“Our tool will not only allow us to monitor where traffic crashes are taking place in the region but it will also serve as an advocacy tool to tell our local governments that there are traffic incidents taking place in our communities,” Jeremiah Lowery, advocacy director for WABA, said in the release.
Alexandria achieved zero traffic fatalities in 2023, a major milestone, but there were still hundreds of crashes around the city.
The Alexandria Vision Zero website said there were 862 total crashes in 2023. Of those, 228 resulted in non-severe injuries while 14 resulted in severe injuries.
Many of those crashes were in Old Town and along major roads, like Duke Street, King Street and Glebe Road. According to the city’s website, 70% of all fatal or severe crashes from 2016-2020 in Alexandria occurred on 10% of the city’s street network.
An overturned vehicle was shut down E. Glebe Road in the Lynhaven neighborhood near Potomac Yard.
There’s no information yet on what led to the overturning, but the incident shut down a section of E. Glebe Road between Montrose Street and Richmond Highway. One parked vehicle was also struck.
Police said at 11 a.m. that all lanes on E. Glebe Road were reopened.
Road closure due to an overturned vehicle on E. Glebe- the entire street is closed from Montrose Street thru Richmond Highway.
We’ll post updates as they become available.— Alexandria Police (@AlexandriaVAPD) February 6, 2024
One person was trapped inside the vehicle, according to scanner traffic, but as of 9:35 a.m. the vehicle was empty.
James Cullum and Vernon Miles contributed to this story
Image via Google Maps
A Pennsylvania man was arrested for his third driving while intoxicated offense in five years and driving on a suspended license after allegedly crashing his car into The Majestic Restaurant’s outdoor patio and a number of other cars in Old Town on Thursday, Dec. 28.
The incident at The Majestic occurred at around 1:30 a.m., and the 25-year-old suspect was later arrested at around 6:30 a.m. after allegedly crashing a 2002 Camry with temporary tags into two unoccupied parked vehicles near the intersection of Commerce and S. Payne Streets.
The damages are estimated at around $15,000, according to Scott Bogue, the restaurant’s manager.
“That includes propane tanks, heaters, crowd control barriers, planters, not to mention the time it too the gardener to buy the plants and plant them,” Bogue said. “He hit every single table, every single chair. You would have thought that an 18-wheeler plowed into the restaurant.”
Bogue said that police linked the suspect’s car by a portion of the front bumper that was left in front of the restaurant. Bogue said that Alexandria Restaurant Partners, which owns The Majestic, is not pressing charges and is getting compensated through the suspect’s insurance.
The suspect was charged with driving on a suspended license and for his third DWI in less than five years, which is a Class 6 felony punishable by up to a year in prison and/or a $2,500 fine. He was released on a $1,000 bond that afternoon and has his first court appearance on Friday, Jan. 5.
A portion of Mount Vernon Avenue in Arlandria is shut down after a crash involving the drivers of a car and a motorcycle.
Mount Vernon Avenue is closed from the Birchmere (3701 Mt Vernon Avenue) to The Waffle Shop (3864 Mt Vernon Avenue).
Scanner traffic indicated one motorcycle and one car were involved in the crash, two people involved in the crash may have been transported to hospitals.
Vernon Miles and James Cullum contributed to this story
Image via Google Maps
A Metropolitan Police officer has been charged with one felony count of eluding police after allegedly crashing into a car near the Seminary Road exit of Interstate 395.
Just before midnight on Wednesday (Nov. 22), Virginia State Police reported investigating a four-door blue Tesla driving 95 miles per hour in a 55 mile-per-hour zone on I-395 near the Seminary Road exit. The state trooper attempted to pull the driver over, and he instead took the Seminary Road exit, allegedly ran a red light and smashed into a Honda Civic.
The driver, 25-year-old Peter McCauley, was reportedly driving his own vehicle and had a 28-year-old female passenger, who was transported to the hospital with minor injuries. The 22-year-old female driver of the Honda also reportedly suffered minor injuries. Everyone involved in the crash wore seatbelts, according to VSP.
“The impact of the crash caused the Tesla to run off the road and strike the Jersey wall,” VSP said in a release. “Meanwhile, the Honda ran off the road and struck the Jersey wall and a light pole.”
McCauley is an MPD officer and his police powers have been revoked, according to the Washington Post.
VSP said that the incident remains under investigation.
The crash was recorded by STATter 911.
UPDATED: With video of the blue Tesla as it exited I-395.
Crash #caughtoncamera: A @VSPPIO trooper tried to catch up with a car he witnessed speeding on I-395S. The car exited at Seminary Road in Alexandria and headed east. That's where it appeared to have run a light and hit… pic.twitter.com/txtvEaNMxx
— Dave Statter (@STATter911) November 23, 2023
A 29-year-old Maryland man faces multiple charges after allegedly fleeing police in a stolen car in Alexandria’s West End.
The incident occurred at around 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday, August 30. Police found that a white Kia Forte with Virginia tags driving in the area of Duke Street and S. Reynolds Street was stolen, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit.
Police said that the theft of the Kia was “consistent” with other thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles from a TikTok challenge, where suspects break into vehicles and use a USB cord to start them.
“The Kia Forte vehicle was found to have a busted rear driver side window and damaged and missing steering column cover where the ignition is normally located,” police said in the search warrant affidavit. “These damages appear to be consistent with those observed on the current TikTok car theft challenge.”
At a meeting with the City Council yesterday, Police Chief Don Hayes said that as of Aug. 31 there were 118 Hyundais and Kias stolen in the last year, which he attributed to a combination of software flaws and the TikTok challenge.
The suspect in the Kia then allegedly led police on a nearly two-mile chase before crashing into a fire hydrant near the intersection of Duke Street and Cockrell Avenue.
“The vehicle travelled east along Duke Street and attempted to lose the officer but crashed at a fire hydrant at the intersection of Duke Street and Cockrell Avenue,” according to the search warrant affidavit. “The Alexandria police officer commanded the subject to stop but he refused and continued running.”
A female passenger in the vehicle later told police that the suspect is an acquaintance and wasn’t aware that the vehicle was stolen, according to the search warrant affidavit. The woman was not charged.
The suspect was charged with unauthorized use of a vehicle, fleeing from law enforcement, falsely identifying himself to law enforcement, driving without a valid license, hit-and-run (property damage) and reckless driving.
The suspect was released on Sept. 7 on a $6,000 unsecured bond and goes to court on October 11.
A 51-year-old Alexandria man was killed in a crash last week near the Eisenhower Avenue exit on Interstate 495.
Virginia State Police reported that Martin Warner, Jr. was killed at 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 12, when his 2003 Mercedes Benz crashed into a tractor-trailer that had to “rapidly slow in speed” due to mechanical issues.
Warner was not wearing his seatbelt and was killed. The driver of the tractor-trailer, a 36-year-old Arlington resident, was wearing his seatbelt and was transported to the hospital with serious injuries.
The crash remains under investigation, according to VSP.
A 14-year-old boy on an electric bike suffered non-life threatening injuries after a crash involving a car in Arlandria on Wednesday night, according to scanner traffic.
The crash occurred at around 7:30 p.m. in a parking lot in the 4100 block of Mount Vernon Avenue. The teen was transported to a hospital in an ambulance.
The driver of the vehicle was pulling out of the parking lot and was about to turn onto Mount Vernon Avenue when the crash occurred, though ALXnow could not independently verify which vehicle struck the other.
The driver stayed at the scene and was not charged.
“I was just pulling out of the parking lot and this kid came flying down Mount Vernon Avenue on his bike and bam, hit the car,” the driver told ALXnow. “I stayed here. I had to help the kid.”
