(Updated at 3:00 p.m.) A homeowner in the Woodmont neighborhood has been charged with assaulting a county leaf truck driver.
Police say Kevin Love, 46, was upset that the leaf truck vacuum didn’t pick up all the leaves on his street Saturday morning. Some sort of verbal dispute ensued, according to police spokesperson Det. Crystal Nosal. Love is then alleged to have punched the driver.
He was subsequently charged with assault and battery and released on a summons.
In an email to ARLnow.com, however, Love says the assault allegations are false.
“I was not arrested,” he said. “I never punched or touched this county employee, ever. There was a verbal dispute after this employee made a discriminatory remark directed at me, but that was the extent of it.”
“I now have to go to court over a out and out lie,” added Love, a local real estate agent. “This has been a very humiliating and damaging attack on my character.”
The county’s Department of Environmental Services said the leaf collection employee reported the incident to a supervisor. The situation is being handled as a “personnel matter,” according to a spokesperson.
How might the situation have been handled better? The county has a leaf collection hotline that residents can call to request a second pass. The phone number is 703-228-6565.
See the updated county leaf collection schedule here.
Mr. Love should think himself lucky. The leaf vacuum truck didn’t even show up on their scheduled rounds in my ‘hood, so now with all the wind, the leaves are strown all over the place.
I’m a bit surprised by this. The leaf vacuum guys who come by my neighborhood are quite pleasant. They wave hello and will even rake leaves that have blown to the edge of the yard back into the pile to be removed.
Definitely pleasant and hard working as are the brush handlers. I often stand by with a broom and shovel to get the last little pieces up, knowing these workers are trying to keep up their schedule which is often thrown off by the weather. How about some RESPECT for these fellows?
My experience, too.
These leaf guys work in ALL kinds of weather — THEN the leaves are given away free as mulch. The homeowner (great last name by the way) stepped out of his warm house to complain and then assault the leaf guy? Get real.
They haven’t even come down my street at all–in fact, I think they missed all of Cherrydale north of Lee Hwy (and that pass is marked as “Completed” on the website). Yeah, I’d be grateful to see them.
I wonder if this is the same Kevin Love whose realtor signs I see posted around town…
Ah, good question!
After doing a little online digging, his age and general area of residence seem to fit with the facts presented by ARLnow. Not exactly good PR for this guy’s real estate business (if it’s him)…
Leave those guys alone.
“Leave those guys alone”
Very puny !!
Somebody’s paying attention.
Better yet, recycle/compost your own leaves.
You do what you want with the leaves, I’ll do what I want. Given I would need a compost heap about the size of my backyard given the trees I have in my yard, I think your suggestion lacks any serious merit.
Mow over the leaves on your lawn with a mulching mower and they will provide a great winter feeding to your grass. They do this at the Biltmore Mansion and many golf courses are begining to do it as well. Give the lawn one last good mowing for the season and feeds the lawn all at once without killing your ears with a high pitched leaf blower.
I couldn’t possibly handle all my leaves myself – they get to be a foot deep (really). But I leave (get it) many of them in garden beds as nature’s mulch. That way they require no raking and the beds replace lawn that requires other care too. Just let nature do your work. And seriously, why remove leaves from beds and then add mulch in the spring? What a waste of time.
Guess I haven’t been serious for the last 27 years then.
Uh, that’s exactly what you’re doing when you let the big truck come by. It sucks ’em up, grinds ’em up, and then takes them to the County mulcherator. Leaves and brush pickup are where the free mulch comes from.
Amen
If only the TSA was charged with assault and battery when they feel me up in the airport. I’m in Arlington County you know!
Perhaps we should all wear only Fig Leaves when we are on line for the TSA scanner.
You are in Arlington, Virginia, not New Jersey. You say “in line,” not “on line” around here.
Don’t let it happen again.
It’s amusing to me see how far humanity has broken down… “Oh no! Someone didn’t pick up my leaves!” Next thought… “I don’t like what you’re saying to me so I’m going to fight you!”
It’s a good thing that I’m not a leaf truck guy…Kevin Love would’ve been making a detour to the hospital on the way to the police station.
The employee cannot prove that he was punched. It’s his word against the taxpayer’s.
I would bet that the accused admitted to the cop that he hit the guy, or the cop witnessed it. He probably then tried to argue out a justification with the cop who did not buy it and placed him under arrest. At least that is how it usually goes down in these sorts of cases.
The customer never admitted that he punched anyone. The police didn’t see anything. There was no proof that anyone was punched. I am hoping that the employee will admit using a certain derogatory remark against the customer. I also hope that the employee gets fired. Moral of the story: when communicating with County employees, use your cell phone recorder. Actually, that’s what business owners should do when they have to deal with the county’s zoning people.
It’s possible that there are witnesses – the leaf collection trucks usually have a two or three person crew.
I don’t suppose that the employee’s co-workers will vouch for the customer.
Hey leaf guys – this guy doesn’t represent how I feel. I see you guys out there, raking wet leaves in the cold. I have swung that vacuum tube in a job I had years ago, and I know how tiring it is. You have a tough job, and I appreciate what you do.
On the second pass last year, the day before the first massive snow, they covered everywhere in Westover except our block. Due to the snow, that was the end of the leaf collection for the year so no follow up after the snow. No big deal, except all those leaves were eventually thrown out in the trash instead of going towards the county’s compost needs. Definately not worth getting in a fight over, but sounds like this hot head got in the fight not for being missed, but over a job not so well done. Hope they throw the book at him, or cover his face in syrup and throw HIM in to the leaf pile!
You are an idiot. Probably unemployed also.
Boy I feel bad for any Jehovah Witnesses that show up at his door!
Unless they bring rakes.
Awesome.
This is like Arlington WikiLeaks.
No one knows the circumstances of what happened. Furthermore, I wouldn’t take the hearsay statements by the police too seriously. Kevin Love is a very nice man and is loved by all who know him.
Kevin Love is about to love him some consequences for his actions… If Kevin is entirely blameless, why didn’t police arrest the County worker as well and let a judge sort it out? No circumstance warrants assault, except in self-defense.
So everyone who the police arrest are guilty?
Mehoo: I didn’t say that he’s guilty, the circumstances in the case are certainly a far cry from “Kevin Love is a very nice man and is loved by all who know him.” He was arrested for a good reason, unless of course he’s not white, and then this all happened as a result of racial profiling.
So everyone who is arrested by the police is arrested “for a good reason?”
You’re still doing it.
You have no idea what happened, nor do I.
How much he paid for his home is entirely irrelevant…
Come on, guys, we don’t even know if this is the guy.
Hey all — we’re removing any posts that include the suspect’s address or a link to his address. It’s our policy not to publish the exact address of private individuals.
Arlnow.com- you should have thought about people posting the “alleged” suspect’s address prior to posting his name in this article. I think this is Libel when you clearly don’t have all the facts of the case. Did you release the driver’s name? No. Do you know what happened? No. This is absolutely unprofessional and unethical in my opinion. Arlnow.com CLEAN UP YOUR ACT!!!!
His name is on the County Police website, along with the report of his alleged crime. You should take your complaint up with the police.
It’s not libelous or unprofessional to publish that someone was arrested, unless it’s not true.
Jon: you haven’t got the foggiest idea about libel. by the way you right wing nut have you read the Constitution? Freedom of the Press. Oh, and the courts have consistently ruled the public has a right to know when nut jobs like this get arrested.
Wow, Kevin Love scores a team-record 8 consecutive three-pointers and assaults a leaf truck guy in the span of two days!
http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/playerbreakingnews.asp?sport=NBA&id=1504&line=145770&spln=1
The only fact that is known here is that none of us, author and Det. Nasal included, know all the facts. Don’t be so quick to throw someone under a bus based on general statements and hearsay. Its too easy to judge someone based on the simple facts, but much harder to try and decipher the unknown truths – What led up to this? Does this particular driver and Mr. Love have a history of arguments? What did the driver do or say to escalate the situation – slander, threats, throwing of objects, pushing? Are all leaf-pickup drivers so amicable and appreciated because they *do their job* in “all weather”? Isn’t that what they’re paid to do? What do you really know? Nothing? I thought so.
As always, suspects are innocent until proven guilty. That’s implied in any item we pull from the county’s crime report.
The article was just updated to remove the imprecise use of “arrested” and replace it with “charged.”
Just to be clear, the item is listed as an “assault and battery – arrest” on the crime report.
One last update, we’ve reached out to Mr. Love for his side of the story, which is now included in the article.
This article has as much to do with the truth as the accusation made against me by the county employee. I never punched or even came close to touching this County employee. I also was not arrested or found guilty of any crime. I have been served a summons to appear in Court which I intend to fight this outrageous accusation which is completely false and an utter fabrication.
Alright! I was sure the story was incomplete/wrong when I read it. Good luck!!
Kevin, I don’t know the details (like everyone else here), but I support you in your fight against this unjust system. It seems like police like to press charges that are greater than the crime (if any) was committed just to show their power to us “little” people.
If you say the wrong thing, hurt their feelings, or they wake up on the wrong side of the bed that could mean lots and lots of $$ fighting bogus charges.
So….what happened, then? I think we’re all curious to hear your side in detail.
I can assure you the above comment from Mr. Love posted at 2:24 pm is more than likely Kevin, as I brought this story to his attention minutes prior to that posting. Believe what you want but Arlnow.com should not be posting articles on there website that are not true or baseless. Until they have all the facts this article should we retracted and the website owes Mr. Love a GIANT apology. I think Mr. Love is well within his right to pursue legal action against Arlnow.com for defamation of character.
ARLNow reported that he was arrested, which is true. It did not say he was guilty of the charge. It owes nobody an apology. Some of the posters of comments might owe him one though.
Wait – the Kevin Love posting here says he wasn’t arrested? Weird. Still, the police report says he was. All a news report can do is report what it hears from both sides.
I double-checked everything with police. Mr. Love was, in fact, arrested (technically a summons is an arrest) and charged with assault and battery. Whether or not he is found guilty will be up to the courts.
With this I am closing the comments.
…Especially since his apparent profession is Real Estate and his reputation is extremely important. It is entirely unprofessional and reckless to publish inaccuracies about someone who’s livelihood is directly correlated to their public image.
Honestly, without knowing more about what happened and the people involved it’s impossible to make any sort of reasonable judgment on behalf of either party. It’s unfortunate the county released Mr. Love’s name before more was known about the alleged incident and there might be some recourse available to him if the charges/allegations by a county employee prove to be false. In the meantime, let’s carry on and let this thing settle itself out.
EVERY accused person’s name is released before their guilt or innocence is sorted out. That’s how our system works. It’s up to us not to judge people before they get a trial or the case is otherwise disposed of, and not assume everyone who is accused or arrested is guilty.
And obviously most of the ignorant people on this comment thread are unable to do that. It is ARLNow’s responsibility to not treat this website like they are ambulance chasers just watching the police thread and putting up anything that they feel will get a hit. I had a neighbor many years ago whose car was hit by a county vehicle. When the neighbor complained to the county, their response was that the person operating the vehicle had reported that someone had done a hit and run to the county vehicle. After a police investigation the county worker was arrested. I can only imagine what would have happened if ARLNow was around to post that.
It is amazing the misinformation posted on the comments portion of this site. PurpleFlipFlops should be banned for posting such garbage on here. FYI, in an assault, the police do not “press charges” against anybody. It is strictly up to the victim, not the police. We are talking about a misdemeanor crime. The victim has to desire prosecution, the police have no say on that matter. In this case, the police were asked to investigate a possible assault, which they are obligated to do. After investigating the incident, and one person is advising they were assaulted, then the investigation turns into a report. Even if no evidence exists, such as a bloody nose, black eye, red mark, torn clothes, etc., an arrest can still be made. But only after the victim explains the circumstances/facts to a magistrate. The magistrate, who is an official of the court, determines if probable cause exists to issue a warrant, not the police. And the person asking for the warrant is the victim, again, not the police. The officer most likely asked for the warrant to be releasable on a summons, just like a speeding ticket. This is reserved for suspects that have little or no criminal record, or where the alleged crime is relatively minor, although any unwanted touching is assault. So, being released on a summons IS being ARRESTED. A person does not have to be taken physically to jail to be arrested, just charged with a crime that carries a potential jail sentence under the VA Code. And for those of you blaming Arlnow.com for slandering this man, that is not true. Arlnow.com just reports the facts, which are a matter of public record. Arlnow.com did not convict the man, nor did they report any facts not true. Arrests are a matter of public record, and can be posted anywhere.
I believe Kevin Love 100%. His friends and neighbors know he was falsely accused. The truck driver fabricated a lie hoping it will take the focus of his discriminatory remark. It is quite sad that the driver made a false report, what example is he setting for his children.
Just ask the Arlington business community and some Arlington residents about the behavior of some of these county employees (county inspectors included).
Some of them appear to be on a power trip when they’re driving around in county vehicles.
They seem to forget who they work for.
I have known Kevin forever. He is not a hitting kind of person. I don’t know what happened but he is too nice for this.