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!
The Alexandria Police Department has identified the motorcyclist who died after crashing into a DASH bus on Tuesday night as 23-year-old city resident Kaden Olson.
The DASH bus driver was alone on the bus at the time of the crash, and announced it via dispatch 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, Olson was declared dead at the scene. Traffic was shut down in both directions of Duke Street and N. Ripley Street while APD investigated the crash.
The bus driver was not charged.
Traffic reopened at 10:40 p.m., police said.
According to APD:
The preliminary investigation of the APD Crash Investigation Unit has determined the DASH bus was traveling eastbound on Duke Street and making a left turn onto northbound N. Ripley Street when the motorcycle traveling westbound on Duke Street broadsided the bus.
Duke Street was closed in the area as the investigation proceeded and the scene was cleared, and streets were reopened near 10:40 p.m. The bus driver was not charged.
APD is asking for the community’s support in the investigation. If you have photos or videos from the incident, please use the links below to the community evidence portal by uploading materials there.
https://alexandriapdva.evidence.com/axon/community-request/public/busmotorcyclecrash
If you witnessed this incident of have information that could support the investigation, please call APD Detective Wesley Vitale at 703-746-6178 or [email protected].
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
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.
The number of traffic crashes and injuries is on the rise in Alexandria, according to a new report from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG).
Alcohol-related traffic arrests in Alexandria rose 29% in 2021, with 230 incidents reported. However, 2020 was a pandemic year that saw fewer drivers on the road and 178 total alcohol-related traffic arrests — the lowest number in many years.
“The timing of this report is poignant as we enter the holiday season, a time of year when we see increases in impaired driving” said COG Police Chiefs Committee Chair and Laurel Police Chief Russell E. Hamill, III. “Around this time, we see as many as nearly half of all traffic deaths involve drunk drivers.”
Traffic injuries in Alexandria were up 11% in 2021, with 466 people injured. Regionally, more than 24,000 people were injured in traffic events last year — an increase of 19%, according to the annual How Safe Are Our Roads? Report prepared by COG for the Washington Regional Alcohol Program (WRAP).
There were seven traffic fatalities in 2021 in Alexandria, the same as in 2020. This year is not included in the report, although there have been a number of traffic-related deaths.
Throughout Northern Virginia there were 104 total traffic fatalities last year — a 30% increase. Northern Virginia’s traffic fatalities made up more than one-third of the 341 total traffic deaths in the D.C. Metro area, which also rose 15%.
According to the report:
In Alexandria in 2021:
- There were 1,096 total traffic crashes, up 14%
- There were 466 total traffic injuries, up 11%
- There were 69 alcohol-related traffic crashes, up 1%
- There were 34 alcohol-related traffic injuries, down 1%
- There was one alcohol-related traffic fatality in Alexandria, down 50%
For drivers under the age of 21
- There were zero alcohol-related fatalities
- There were 135 crashes, seven alcohol-related crashes (up 5%)
- There were 52 injuries, with five alcohol-related injuries (up 10%)
- There were seven alcohol-related arrests (up 1%)
Maryland resident Fredy Ortiz Dominguez, 46, pleaded guilty to a felony count of involuntary manslaughter for the death of a pedestrian in Arlandria last November.
Dominquez was indicted in April in connection with the death of Roy Saravia Alvarez, a 46-year-old Alexandria resident killed after exiting a bus at the corner of Mount Vernon Avenue and West Glebe Road. Dominguez pleaded guilty in the Alexandria Circuit Court on July 28, according to a press release from the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney.
According to the release:
The investigation established that on the evening of November 13, 2021, Roy Saravia Alvarez exited a bus at the intersection of Mount Vernon Avenue and West Glebe Road in the City of Alexandria. He crossed West Glebe Road in the crosswalk. He completed crossing Glebe and began walking westbound on the sidewalk.
The defendant, Mr. Ortiz Dominguez, was the second car in line waiting to turn left from northbound Mount Vernon Avenue onto West Glebe Road. The car in front of the defendant completed the turn without incident, but the defendant took a wide turn and drove up onto the sidewalk, striking Mr. Saravia Alvarez from behind and pinning him underneath the vehicle.
For six minutes, the defendant pressed the gas pedal and rocked his work truck back and forth while the victim remained pinned underneath the vehicle. Onlookers attempted to get the defendant to stop, but he persisted in pressing the gas pedal until police arrived. Mr. Saravia Alvarez was freed from underneath the vehicle by the fire department within 10 minutes of arrival, but he had succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead on scene.
The release said that Dominguez was not under the effects of alcohol or drugs at the time of the crash and Alvarez and Dominguez did not know each other before the crash.
“The cause for the collision remains undetermined,” the release said. “The sentencing hearing in the case will be held on September 15, 2022. The maximum penalty for Involuntary Manslaughter is ten years in the penitentiary. The defendant is incarcerated in the Alexandria Adult Detention Center awaiting sentencing.”
A 44-year-old Fairfax County man was arrested on June 22 and faces multiple charges for a February 22 crash on Duke Street that resulted in the death of a driver and injuries to other drivers.
Carlos Kami Adar McKethan was arrested subsequent to a direct Grand Jury indictment charging him with aggravated vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of Phencyclidine (PCP), according to the office of Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter.
“It is alleged the defendant was the driver of a vehicle which struck another vehicle,” Porter’s office said in a release. “As a result of the collision, the driver of the struck vehicle was killed.”
McKethan is being held without bail in the William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center awaiting trial. No trial date has been set.
Five vehicles were involved in the crash, which occurred at around at around 11:50 p.m. in the 3200 block of Duke Street. Three people were trapped in two different vehicles after the crash.
“The crash resulted in one fatality, one critical injury, one serious injury, and two minor injuries,” Alexandria Police said in a release. “Preliminary investigation suggests speed may have been a contributing factor in this incident.”
Vehicular manslaughter is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in jail, and driving under the influence of PCP is punishable by up to a year in jail.
News Release:: APD Investigates a Multi-Vehicle Crash
The Alexandria Police Department is investigating a multi-vehicle crash that occurred late Tuesday evening.
Read more — https://t.co/5SKU5NPdKt pic.twitter.com/fiyLoqugYZ
— Alexandria Police (@AlexandriaVAPD) February 23, 2022
Map via Google Maps
Updated at 1:25 p.m. An Alexandria motorcyclist was killed Sunday afternoon (June 26) after crashing and falling nearly 30 feet off the westbound Interstate 495 overpass exit ramp for Eisenhower Avenue toward Mill Road.
The motorcyclist took the exit ramp, and crashed into the cement wall while on the overpass. His identity was later released as 23-year-old Braydon A. Stone.
“While on the overpass exit ramp, the motorcycle ran off the left side of the travel lane and struck the cement wall,” Virginia State Police said in a release. “The impact of the crash caused the motorcyclist to be thrown from his bike and over the cement wall. He then landed approximately 28 feet below in the travel lane. He was transported to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.”
Police said Stone was wearing a helmet, and that the crash remains under investigation. He was transported to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Alexandria Police have released the identities of the two men killed on Insterstate 495 near Telegraph Road on May 12.
Abdellah Bougrine, 54, of Alexandria, and Driss Bougrine, 59, of Fairfax, died after being hit by vehicles after the 2016 Toyota Corolla they were driving stopped in the middle of the road. The two men got out of the Toyota and were then hit moments later by two vehicles.
“(The) male driver and male passenger exited the Toyota and were outside of it when the Toyota was struck moments later by a westbound 2000 Ford Ranger pickup truck,” Virginia State Police said in a release. “Both the driver and passenger were also struck. The impact of the crash caused the Toyota to run off the right side of the interstate and into the guardrail. The Ford came to rest on the left shoulder. A westbound 2008 Mazda Miata also struck one of the men.”
A GoFundMe campaign for the men raised $15,500, and is no longer accepting donations.
No charges have been filed, and the crash remains under investigation, according to VSP.
DELAYED POST: DOUBLE FATAL CRASH: ~11:10PM Thursday on the Local Lanes of the Beltway Inner Loop near Exit 176 Telegraph Road (Alexandria, Virginia). Local Lanes CLOSED for Crash Investigation. #DCTraffic #VATraffic pic.twitter.com/icBzBw6k5p
— Cordell (@CordellTraffic) May 13, 2022
Via VDOT
Alexandria Police are still investigating a February 22 crash on Duke Street that resulted in the death of a driver and multiple injuries. No one has been arrested in connection to the crash, even though one of the drivers involved was found to be in possession of cocaine and number of other suspected drugs.
“The crash resulted in one fatality, one critical injury, one serious injury, and two minor injuries,” APD said in a release. “Preliminary investigation suggests speed may have been a contributing factor in this incident.”
Five vehicles were involved in the crash, which occurred at around at around 11:50 p.m. One of the vehicles was a silver Toyota Rav4 with Florida plates, and under the driver’s seat police found a bag containing 92 grams of “white powder and white rock-like substances” which tested positive for cocaine, according to a search warrant.
Police also found “3.4 grams of a tan powder believed to be heroin, suspected PCP, three unknown pills and 0.7 grams of suspected marijuana,” according to the warrant.
Field tests for the suspected heroin and PCP were inconclusive and all of the substances have been sent to the Virginia Department of Forensic Science, according to the warrant.
“Currently no one has been charged with any crimes in connection to this incident,” APD Public Information Officer Marcel Bassett told ALXnow. “This investigation is still ongoing and will be thorough to ensure all parties involved are given their due process.”
Anyone with information on the crash is asked to call Officer Wesley Vitale at 703-746-6178, email [email protected] or call APD’s non-emergency number at 703-746-4444. Callers can remain anonymous.
Tips can be anonymous.
News Release:: APD Investigates a Multi-Vehicle Crash
The Alexandria Police Department is investigating a multi-vehicle crash that occurred late Tuesday evening.
Read more — https://t.co/5SKU5NPdKt pic.twitter.com/fiyLoqugYZ
— Alexandria Police (@AlexandriaVAPD) February 23, 2022
Notification:: Duke Street is temporarily closed between Quaker Lane and Roth Street, this is due to a multi-vehicle crash. Severe injuries were reported. APD and EMS is on scene. No further details at this time. pic.twitter.com/wdskdGYiMo
— Alexandria Police (@AlexandriaVAPD) February 23, 2022
4-VEHICLE CRASH WITH 3 TRAPPED— Duke St at South Quaker Ln in the City of Alexandria (from 11:50 p.m.). 3 patients being taken to trauma centers now. @AlexandriaNow #VATraffic pic.twitter.com/8ZbW17fwxT
— Alan Henney (@alanhenney) February 23, 2022
Map via Google Maps
