An Arlington man has been charged with DUI after police say he struck 7-8 parked cars near Rosslyn on a rainy weekday afternoon earlier this month.
The incident happened on Friday, May 6, in the Radnor-Fort Myer Heights neighborhood. A police report says the 32-year-old man got into a 2003 Honda Pilot SUV, which was parked outside his apartment building on the 1200 block of N. Quinn Street, around 4:45 p.m. What happened next, as detailed by one of the victims, sounds reminiscent of a demolition derby.
The man “sideswiped a car in his own lot, hit a no-parking sign, then a utility pole, then hopped over a sidewalk as well as a row of bushes into a different parking lot where he slammed into another car so hard that it smashed into another,” the victim told ARLnow. “He then proceeded to go on to N. Rolfe Street from said parking lot and hit three more cars before finally coming to a stop.”
The account largely matches that of a police spokeswoman and a crash report shared with ARLnow. The crash report lists a total of seven seven vehicles, all but one of which were disabled by the force of the collisions.
“At approximately 4:46 p.m. on May 6, police were dispatched to the report of a vehicle crash with unknown conditions,” said Arlington County Police Department spokeswoman Ashley Savage. “Upon arrival, officers located the suspect in the driver’s seat of the striking vehicle. The suspect was treated on scene by medics and declined transport to the hospital.”
“The investigation determined the driver allegedly struck approximately eight parked, unoccupied vehicles, a utility pole and garbage cans,” Savage continued. “Following the administration of field sobriety tests [the suspect] was arrested and charged with Driving Under the Influence and Refusal of Breath Test.”
The drunk driving charge is a misdemeanor, as it’s the suspect’s first DUI charge, according to court records. The refusal of a breath test is a civil violation.
The suspect was released on his own recognizance after the arrest, according to court records. He is next due in court in August.