Bike Accident Involving Police Car Along Custis Trail
A bicyclist struck an Arlington County police cruiser on Lee Highway this afternoon as the cruiser was responding to a bicyclist struck by a car a couple of blocks away.
The cyclist was heading downhill on the Custis Trail, toward Rosslyn, at the time of the accident. He struck the front bumper of the police cruiser as it was entering westbound Lee Highway from N. Oak Street, tumbled to the ground and suffered a bloody head wound. The wound was said to be superficial and the cyclist was conscious when medics arrived to treat him.
There is a painted stop sign on the trail just before the intersection.
It’s unclear if the cyclist was wearing a helmet at the time, but none was spotted near the scene. He was loaded into an ambulance and taken to the hospital.
The police officer involved in the accident was responding to a bicyclist who was reported struck by a car at Lee Highway and N. Quinn Street, also along the Custis Trail. The cyclist in that accident reportedly only suffered minor injuries.
BB&T Bank Robbed in Clarendon
(Updated at 3:35 p.m.) Police are investigating yet another bank robbery in Arlington.
The BB&T Bank branch at 3001 N. Washington Blvd in Clarendon was robbed this afternoon by a man described as an older white male. The suspect fled on foot after the robbery.
The man is thought to be the same serial bank robber who’s suspected in four other bank robberies in Arlington this summer, including a robbery of the same Clarendon BB&T bank branch in June.
This is the eighth bank robbery in Arlington this summer. The last robbery happened on Aug. 9 on Lee Highway.
Update on 8/17/11 – See surveillance images of the suspect here.
Man Arrested After Brazen ATM Robbery in Courthouse
(Updated at 2:25 p.m.) A man has been arrested after a brazen daytime robbery attempt just outside the county government building in Courthouse.
The crime was called into police around 1:10 p.m. Initial reports suggest the man put a female victim in a choke hold after she entered her PIN number into the Arlington County Federal Credit Union ATM in Courthouse Plaza, just steps from the main entrance of the county government building and across the street from the Arlington County Police headquarters.
The woman reportedly ran away while the man attempted to use her ATM account. It’s unclear whether he withdrew money from the machine.
Several people then started chasing the suspect into the residential Lyon Village area, just north of Courthouse, according to police radio traffic and a witness. Police eventually took over the chase and arrested the man in a yard just near Key Elementary school.
One of the people who initially helped to chase the suspect was an employee in the county’s Commissioner of Revenue office, according to county spokeswoman Mary Curtius. The employee heard the victim scream and then gave chase, Curtius said.
Deer Struck on I-66 Ramp Left Dead in EFC Yard
This morning, just before 8:30, a small deer was struck by a vehicle on a ramp from Sycamore Street to I-66, in East Falls Church. The gravely injured deer apparently stumbled down to the corner of Sycamore Street and 19th Street, where it collapsed and died in a grassy yard next to the southbound Sycamore Street sidewalk.
Three and a half hours later, the deer is still there and visible to passersby.
Arlington Police, called to the scene after the deer was struck, left shortly after confirming the deer was dead and placing a call to the county’s animal control contractor. But we hear that the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, which performs animal control and sheltering services to the county under a contract worth more than $1.2 million as of FY 2010, has told police that it may take a while to pick up the deer since there’s only one animal control officer working today.
ARLnow.com has been told in the past that animal control is often short-staffed in Arlington. A message on the League’s answering machine said its main offices were closed today.
Safety Improvements Planned for Glebe Road
Arlington County is planning improvements designed to make three N. Glebe Road intersections safer for pedestrians. The improvements are expected to be implemented by the end of next year.
The intersections — Glebe and Carlin Springs Road, Glebe and Wilson Boulevard, and Glebe and Fairfax Drive — involve long crosswalks across numerous lanes of fast-moving traffic, as well as the occasional slip lane. The improvements are intended to make crossing the intersections safer by reducing crosswalk distances and “conflict points.”
At Glebe and Fairfax, crews will “regularize intersection geometry” — i.e. convert “suburban” slip lanes into “urban” 90-degree turns controlled by the stop light. Crews will also widen the mid-intersection pedestrian refuge.
At Glebe and Wilson, the plan is to eliminate and square up the existing slip lane at the southwest corner of the intersection, as well as to widen the median refuge, reduce crosswalk distances and to install a speed table on the northwest slip lane.
At Glebe and Carlin Springs, intersection corners will be rebuilt, median refuges will be enhanced, higher-visibility crosswalks will be installed and the driveway to and from the Ballston parking garage will be modified for safety.
The changes are being paid for primarily with federal funds, according to Arlington County Director of Transportation Dennis Leach. Even though Glebe Road is a state route, Virginia is not chipping in for the changes.
“They view this as an Arlington-requested betterment,” Leach said.
Leach expects bids for the project to come in this fall, with construction to start in the spring and to wrap up by the end of next year.
Chain Bridge Closures Planned
Chain Bridge will close for repairs on three different weekends over the next month.
The bridge will close on 8:00 p.m. on Friday and will reopen at 5:00 a.m. on Monday, starting this weekend, according to DDOT.
The three weekends when closures are planned are Aug. 19-21, Sept. 9-11 and Sept. 16-18.
Morning Notes
Police Searching For Serial Groper — Arlington Police are on the lookout for a man who has been assaulting women and girls by grabbing their breasts as they walk down the street. Among the victims are Eastern European women working as lifeguards and a 13-year-old girl. The attacks started in June. [WUSA9]
Virginia NOW Endorsements — The Virginia National Organization for Women PAC has endorsed four Arlington candidates for state office. Virginia NOW endorsed both Adam Ebbin and Libby Garvey in the three-way race for the 30th state Senate District (skipping over Rob Krupicka). The group also endorsed both Stephanie Clifford and Alfonso Lopez in the two-way race for the 49th House of Delegates District. [Virginia NOW]
Arlington Helps Battle Arlandria Fire — Arlington County firefighters helped Alexandria firefighters extinguish a two-alarm blaze at an apartment complex in the Arlandria section of Alexandria yesterday. The fire, across from St. Rita’s Catholic Church, forced the closure of Russell Road between Mt. Vernon Avenue and W. Glebe Road for much of the morning. [Patch]
Areizaga-Soto Funnels More Money into Campaign — State Senate candidate Jaime Areizaga-Soto has lent his campaign another $70,000, in addition to the $145,000 he already loaned to the campaign. [Sun Gazette]
Flickr pool photo by Chris Rief
