Two Arlington attorneys are suing a Virginia sheriff’s office over a brutal triple homicide carried out by a deputy who, court documents allege, was hired illegally.
The deputy, 28-year-old Austin Edwards, reportedly lied about his age while soliciting sexual photos from a 15-year-old girl in California in 2022. When the teen rejected Edwards’ advances, he drove to California, claimed authority as a deputy to gain entry into a home and killed her mother and grandparents, according to legal filings.
After setting the house ablaze, Edwards, per lawsuits filed earlier this month, kidnapped the teenager and fled. He died during a shootout with law enforcement in the Mojave Desert that same day.
Ballston-based attorneys Scott Perry and Nicholas Stamatis and Virginia Beach attorneys Kevin Biniazan and Jeffrey Breit, of the firm Breit Biniazan, are suing the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in federal court on behalf of the teenage victim and the administrator of her mother’s estate.
The suits condemn the law enforcement agency, located in a Virginia county about two hours from Knoxville, Tenn., for its alleged liability in the killings.
The filings accuse the sheriff’s office of failing to conduct a complete background check on Edwards which, attorneys say, would have revealed that he had been barred from owning a gun after threatening to kill his father in 2016.
Perry hopes these lawsuits — which name the Washington County sheriff, a detective and the administrator of Edwards’ estate in addition to the sheriff’s office — bring some amount of justice for his clients. He told ARLnow that he sees them as victims not only of Edwards but of everyone who should have stopped him from becoming a sheriff’s deputy.
“Without a badge and without a gun, and without being able to say he was an officer, this wouldn’t have happened,” the attorney said.
The two nearly identical lawsuits, representing the teen and the mother’s estate, each seek $50 million in damages.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a request for comment. In response to a similar lawsuit filed on behalf of the teenager’s aunt and sister in November, the agency pointed out that Edwards had been employed with the Virginia State Police immediately before the sheriff’s office hired him.
“As a matter of law, it is neither unreasonable nor negligent for the WCSO to rely on the verification processes of the Virginia State Police in hiring Edwards,” the sheriff’s office said in a motion to dismiss.
Hired because of ‘human error’
Edwards, according to court documents, found his teenage victim through Instagram in the summer of 2022. As part of a “catfishing” scheme, he posed as a 17-year-old, reportedly sent her gifts and money, paid for food deliveries and helped her buy birthday gifts for her friends.
The victim broke off their relationship that November after Edwards allegedly began trying to make her to send nude photos.
It was around this point that Edwards applied to be a sheriff’s deputy.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office, according to the suit, hired Edwards despite the fact that he left “significant portions” of his employment application blank. This included questions about whether he had ever been detained or had his weapons permit revoked.
In reality, the Los Angeles Times reported, a judge had revoked Edwards’ right to own a firearm after he was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility in 2016.
Neither the sheriff’s office nor state police noted that fact — a failing that a Virginia State Police spokesperson blamed on “human error,” according to the Associated Press.
“All of this information was easily discoverable by the sheriff’s office, had they looked at it,” Perry said.
Arlington County residents are some of the safest in the country, by at least one measure.
Just 3.8 out of every 100,000 Arlington County residents died either by homicide or in a land transport collision between 2018 and 2022, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s a lower death rate than any other county in the nation with a population of at least 100,000 people.
Ryan Radia, a research fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a D.C. libertarian think tank, tweeted his analysis of CDC data last week.
Arlington (VA), Loudoun, Middlesex (MA), Bergen, Manhattan, and Fairfax are among the safest counties in the United States, by one measure.https://t.co/p55sZf6SQPhttps://t.co/XRlhVGCC8z pic.twitter.com/F81asGmwV1
— Ryan Radia (@RyanRadia) February 2, 2024
Arlington is a standout in its low traffic fatalities. The county had the lowest proportion of vehicular deaths between 2018 and 2022, at 2.7 out of 100,000. The second-lowest county was Manhattan, at 3.2 deaths.
Arlington ranked ninth in homicide deaths, at a rate of 1.1 per 100,000, among the counties listed.
Both of Arlington’s rates are much lower than the national average. In 2021, 13.7 out of every 100,000 Americans died in a vehicle crash and 7.8 died by homicide, per CDC data.
Radia told ARLnow that Arlington’s high population density might play a role in its low traffic fatality rates. CDC data shows that people living in densely populated areas tend to have lower rates of dying from collisions involving cars, trucks, motorcycles or other land transport vehicles.
For instance, of Manhattan, Staten Island and Hudson County, New Jersey — a county between New York and Newark containing Hoboken, which recently celebrated seven consecutive years without a traffic death — all had some of the lowest death rates.
“Arlington is one of the most densely populated counties in the United States — although not quite as dense as D.C. or Alexandria — and denser areas might tend to have fewer vehicle miles traveled,” Radia noted.
He also pointed to Arlington’s high per capita income, which can correlate with fewer road deaths, as well as its high proportion of people working from home. U.S. Census Bureau data showed that Arlington had the second highest work-from-home rates in the country in 2021.
“People who work from home might spend less time on the road (and thus have lower odds of dying in a traffic collision),” Radia said.
Notably, nearby Loudoun County, which has a lower population density and an extensive network of gravel roads, was also was among the safest counties.
Arlington County is in the midst of a Vision Zero campaign that aims to bring its number of traffic fatalities and severe injuries down to zero by 2030, though some question whether that’s achievable without major changes.
Between 2018 and 2022, according to county data, Arlington saw 20 fatal crashes and 277 causing severe injuries. Five fatal Arlington crashes happened last year, along with 53 crashes involving severe injury.
To reduce road deaths and injuries, the county is working on infrastructure improvements, while increasing traffic enforcement and trying to influence driver behavior.
Although the county tracks crashes and responds with quick-build or capital improvement projects and pilot programs, driver behavior continues to present problems. Speeding, ignoring traffic laws and distracted driving comprise the top three reasons most survey participants reported feeling unsafe when traveling in Arlington.
To that end, the Arlington County Board authorized speed cameras in January 2022, but the county was still in the process of procuring them as of last fall. The Board has also lowered speed limits in some areas.
A 55-year-old inmate has died in the Arlington County jail, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
This is the second death the detention facility has logged this year, after 73-year-old Abonesh Woldegeorges, booked on trespassing charges, was found dead in her cell this August.
David Gerhard, of Hedgesville, West Virginia, died today (Tuesday) after he was found unresponsive in his cell within the medical unit at the Arlington County Detention Facility, which the Sheriff’s Office runs.
Sheriff’s deputies and medical staff “began immediate resuscitation efforts until the arrival of Arlington County Fire & Rescue units,” per an ACSO press release.
Police and fire were dispatched to the report of cardiac arrest just before 8 a.m., according to a press release from Arlington County Police Department. First responders found Gerhard was still unresponsive.
“He was transported to Virginia Hospital Center where he was pronounced deceased,” the ACSO release said.
He died around just before 9 a.m., a sheriff’s office spokeswoman told ARLnow.
Gerhard was booked in jail on Nov. 20 for failing to comply with support obligations and contempt of court. Under certain circumstances, the court can order a person to be incarcerated for not complying with a court order concerning the custody, visitation or support of a child.
Gerhard’s family was notified of his passing, the release said.
“We extend our condolences to the family of Mr. Gerhard, during this difficult time,” Sheriff Jose Quiroz said in a statement.
The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine his cause of death. ACPD is investigating the death, following standard procedure, per the police press release.
Anyone with information related to this investigation is asked to contact the Police Department’s Tip Line at 703-228-4180 or [email protected]. To report information anonymously, contact the Arlington County Crime Solvers at 1.866.411.TIPS (8477).
Gerhard is the ninth person to die in the Arlington County jail over the past eight years. His death comes despite heightened attention on jail deaths and efforts to update health check protocols at the county lockup.
A number of inmates who have died in the last eight years were homeless or booked on so-called nuisance crimes, such as trespassing.
Gerhard was white, while most inmates who have died in the county jail have been Black. That disparity prompted the Arlington branch of the NAACP to call for a federal investigation into the deaths.
A day of remembrance for lives lost — in Arlington, Northern Virginia, and around the world — to vehicular crashes will be held at Wakefield High School this month.
It is a local instantiation of the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims held annually on the third Sunday of November around the world. The events will mark the deaths of approximately 1.35 million people annually in traffic crashes.
Nonprofit Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets, which focuses on traffic safety education and has Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax chapters, is putting on the event on Sunday, Nov. 19, at 1 p.m. Keynote speakers include Arlington County Police Chief Andy Penn and City of Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson.
“This year’s World Day of Remembrance takes on extra urgency as the number of people dying and severely injured in preventable traffic crashes in the U.S. is rising at an alarming rate,” NFVSS founder Mike Doyle said in a statement.
Some 46,000 additional people died in traffic crashes in the U.S. in 2022 compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019, for a 22% increase, he said, citing National Safety Council data.
“Our neighborhoods are no exception,” Doyle said, citing the 15 pedestrians killed in the region since last November. “Many, many more vulnerable road users [have been] seriously injured, while even more of our neighbors have been killed or seriously injured while inside of their vehicles.”
One victim who will be remembered is 71-year-old Californian Susan Hamlin, who was killed on King Street on the border of Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax County. Arlington police charged a man with driving while intoxicated after he allegedly struck her while going the wrong direction.
“What’s very unique about where Ms. Hamlin was struck… that’s where the City of Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax counties meet, and where King Street becomes Leesburg Pike,” Arlington Families for Safe Streets member Hung Truong tells ARLnow. “It’s very appropriate we’re focusing on that for World Day of Remembrance, as we want to highlight how difficult it is to get things changed.”
Since ACPD responded to the crash that killed Hamlin, it is included in Arlington crash data, says Arington Dept. of Environmental Services spokesman Nate Graham. He notes Arlington is supporting Alexandria with coordination, data and review as it pursues a federally funded safety project to make this intersection safer.
The project may include extending existing bicycle lanes along King Street and adding sidewalks, according to our sister site ALXnow.
Arlington County is trying to make inroads on traffic safety through its effort to eliminate serious and fatal traffic injuries by 2030, known as Vision Zero, now in its third year. It recently released a mid-year report reviewing serious crashes through this June and summarizing recent work.
In the first six months of 2023, Arlington clocked three fatal crashes, including Hamlin’s, and 28 resulting in severe injuries. Excessive speed, alcohol consumption and improper seat belt use are the leading causes of critical crashes and on the rise post-pandemic, per a recent meeting on the report.
Meanwhile, the county has been busy conducting crash analyses and installing “quick build” projects, including such as new crossing signage and bollards, as well as large-scale capital projects. Some have significantly reduced crashes while others have had more marginal impacts, Vision Zero Coordinator Christinen Baker said in the meeting.
Little Falls Road and Old Dominion Drive has yet to see a crash since 2021, when the county installed a barrier and implemented new restrictions at the intersection, which used to net 11 crashes per year, Baker said.
Baker noted only slight crash reductions from giving pedestrians a head start at the intersection of N. Glebe Road and N. Carlin Springs Road and making roadway improvements at Clarendon Circle.
“I think they have a better grasp on data visualization and analysis,” says Truong, a Vision Zero stakeholder who participated in the meeting. “It’s nice to see they’re doing more quick builds and getting those out. I would like to see more changes implemented in South Arlington, as well, the Shirlington area and cross-jurisdictional roadways, such as King Street, as well.”
A Wakefield High School freshman named Jorge Chavarria Rodíguez died Thursday evening, according to several sources.
The 16-year-old attended Barcroft Elementary School and Kenmore Middle School and had just started his 9th-grade year at Wakefield, per an email from Wakefield Principal Peter Balas to the school community.
“Jorge was a beloved member of the Wakefield, Kenmore, and Barcroft families, and impacted the lives of many of our students and staff members,” Balas said in the email, which Arlington Public Schools provided to ARLnow. “He was excited and happy to join the Wakefield family, with staff recalling his genuine smile.”
This marks the second death of a Wakefield student this calendar year. APS confirmed on Monday, a school holiday, that Jorge was not on school grounds at the time of his passing.
Arlington County Police Department spokeswoman Ashley Savage said police found a deceased teen last Thursday at an apartment building in the 5100 block of Columbia Pike. Officers were dispatched just before 8:30 p.m. on Thursday for the report of an unresponsive person on the ground.
First responders reported that the person was dead upon their arrival on scene, according to scanner traffic.
Now, ACPD is conducting a death investigation and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine cause and manner of death. She noted a preliminary investigation “has not revealed an ongoing threat to the community related to this incident.”
In a GoFundMe page created by Jorge’s mother, Luz, she writes in Spanish that she is living through the worst pain a mother can experience. She says her biggest wish is to give him the final goodbye he deserves as a beloved son.
An English-language description below describes Jorge as “a happy and playful child, a good student and an excellent son.”
“My heart is broken knowing that his dreams will not come true and that his life was short,” she says. “I thank you in advance for your expressions of affection and collaboration. I wouldn’t wish this pain on anyone. May my little Jorge rest in peace.”
Over the weekend, a tribute to her son, made of flowers and saint candles, started growing around a tree across the street from the Columbia Pike Plaza shopping center. The GoFundMe, meanwhile, has circulated on social media and received some 265 donations, totaling more than $13,000 of the $25,000 goal, as of publication.
When a community loses a child , we come together to support the best we can. Jorge Rodriguez Descanso en Paz. Please consider donating to help his family with funeral expenses. @KeyPta @EscuelaKeyAPS @HBWProgram @YorktownHS @APSKenmore
https://t.co/OC5cd3mW9t— #TiredTeacher (@pondfamily) September 24, 2023
The Arlington County Board briefly discussed the 16-year-old’s passing on Saturday.
Reading from texts he received, Board member Takis Karantonis said it was possibly an overdose, amid attempts by Chair Christian Dorsey to interject.
“Whatever the circumstances, it’s a tragic thing, and I’m really devastated and heartbroken about this,” Karantonis said.
Dorsey cut the the discussion short, saying that “resources are going to be made available to the students next week [and] details are not known at this time.”
In a statement, community activist Janeth Valenzuela said adults and responsible citizens need to act quickly or risk losing more children to death and addictions.
“We want to make changes, now,” she said. “Not tomorrow, today. Let us not allow this death to be one more of others, let us use this pain that burns our soul to gain momentum and defend our children and the children of our community with our claws.”
Last night, hundreds gathered outside the family home of Cpl. Spencer Collart, who died tragically during a training exercise in Australia, to honor his life.
Despite the somber atmosphere at the Maywood home of Collart’s parents, Alexia and Bart, neighbors, friends and family offered prayers, shared fond memories and joined together to sing Spencer’s favorite song, “Africa” by Toto.
The 21-year-old was one of three Marines who lost their lives after their MV-22B Osprey aircraft crashed and caught fire on Melville Island, off the coast of Australia’s Northern Territory. The incident occurred about two weeks ago during a military training exercise involving forces from the United States, Australia, the Philippines, East Timor and Indonesia.
Twenty Marines survived, though three remained hospitalized as of Monday. The cause of the crash is still being investigated.
The Collarts said their son’s remains will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, although a date for the service has not yet been confirmed.
During the vigil, Collart’s youth pastor, Greg O’Dell of Cherrydale Baptist Church, said he had many passions as a young adult, including video games and lacrosse. But those were overshadowed by his desire to join the Marines, which he did on Oct. 26, 2020, at age 18, after graduating from Washington-Liberty High School.
“And he really researched it. And he said, ‘This is where I need to go. This is this is my next step,'” O’Dell said, recalling a discussion he had with Spencer his senior year.
His parents say Collart served in Pensacola, Florida, and Jacksonville, North Carolina. He became a MV-22B crew chief and was then stationed in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
Collart was promoted to the rank of Corporal earlier this year and had earned three awards: the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.
O’Dell said the last “serious conversation” he had with Collart took place at the former neighborhood bar and restaurant, Thirsty Bernie, and the young Marine “could not stop talking about” how much he loved his work.
He said Spencer was responsible for making sure everybody who went up in the Osprey came home safe. He mused that his actions were part of the reason most people aboard the aircraft survived.
“He’s the one that would go up and down and pull their straps and make sure they were buckled down,” O’Dell said. “He’s the one if they needed to bail out, he would open the back door and start bailing them out. He was the one who was the door gunner, if they came in, under fire. And so, he protected his Marines that came on to that Osprey, and so did the pilots.”
Of the eight people who have died in the Arlington County jail in eight years, five appear to have been homeless, according to court records.
Most recently, Abonesh Woldegeorges, a 73-year-old Black woman with no fixed address, died in the detention center on Sunday morning.
She was found at Dulles International Airport four times between 2019 and 2023 and then, this month, at Reagan National Airport, where she was arrested by airport police and sent to Arlington’s jail, the Washington Post reported. Although eventually granted bond, Woldegeorges remained in jail so she could be taken to Loudoun County for a hearing related to her Dulles charges.
Her case is not unique. Her death, however, returns the jail to the spotlight after previous inmate deaths generated a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit and a civil rights investigation by the Dept. of Justice, as well as a slate of changes by the Sheriff’s Office, which oversees the lockup.
Over the past year and a half it changed medical providers, purchased biometric sensors for select inmates and made other protocol changes. All of this occurred amid changing leadership: Beth Arthur retired before the end of her term and appointed as interim sheriff her Chief Deputy, Jose Quiroz.
Quiroz campaigned on improving inmate well-being and, after winning the Democratic primary, is the sole candidate for Sheriff on the November ballot.
“Clearly, changing to a new medical contractor didn’t change anything,” says Michael Hemminger, president of the Arlington NAACP branch, which requested the federal inquiry he says is ongoing. “What level of care do these human beings deserve? Is it okay to continue outsourcing to a for-profit provider?”
A holding place for people without homes and with mental disorders
Court records indicate three other deceased inmates, dating back to 2015, had no address listed or their housing situation was fluid, with an address that varied by the year of their offense. A fourth the Washington Post reported was homeless and suffering from alcoholism.
Of this group, Paul Thompson (died 2022), Clyde Spencer (died 2021) and Edward Straughn (died 2015) were in jail on trespassing or public intoxication charges. Anthony Gordon (died 2015) had been convicted of assault and battery of a family member and was sentenced to five years.
The remaining inmates who have died were listed as D.C. or Maryland residents. This includes D.C. resident Darryl Becton, whose family sued Arlington County for wrongful death for $10 million and were awarded $1.3 million about three weeks ago, according to Hemminger.
That a majority of deceased inmates did not have stable housing comes as no surprise to Chief Public Defender Brad Haywood. He says the vast majority of inmates are indigent and his office has about a dozen clients right now with airport trespassing charges, specifically.
“People who have homes to go to never have to trespass. People who have money almost never steal. People who are urinating in public — everyone I know would rather have a place to go inside,” he said.
He added that more than half of jail inmates are also taking mental health medication. Statistics from the 2023 fiscal year indicate that psychotropic drugs were prescribed 1,582 times across 2,764 total commitments at Arlington’s jail. Other signs of elevated mental health issues inside the jail include the 1,102 inmates assigned a mental health alert.
That the jail has a large population of unhoused inmates with mental health disorders is both a funding issue and the result of a disconnect among the people and agencies reporting and arresting people for trespassing, he said.
“People don’t think about the social conditions that lead to this,” Haywood said. “It’s just a combination of a lot of issues that no one really wants to confront because they’re complicated and require a lot of resources.”
A 21-year-old man from Arlington was among three Marines killed in Australia over the weekend.
Cpl. Spencer Collart died after the MV-22B Osprey aircraft he was on crashed and caught fire on Melville Island, off the coast of Australia’s Northern Territory. It happened during a military training exercise involving forces from the United States, Australia, the Philippines, East Timor and Indonesia, news outlets reported.
Twenty Marines survived the crash, though three remained hospitalized as of Monday.
“The cause of the crash remains under investigation,” the Marine Corps said today in a press release that identified those killed, including Collart, the Osprey’s crew chief; pilot Capt. Eleanor LeBeau; and executive officer Maj. Tobin Lewis.
Collart “enlisted in the Marine Corps on October 26, 2020, and was promoted to the rank of Corporal on February 1, 2023,” according to the press release. “He served in Pensacola, FL, and Jacksonville, NC, before arriving at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay, HI. Cpl Collart, an MV-22B crew chief, received the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.”
On Sunday night, President Biden offered his condolences to the families of the Marines killed.
Jill and I send our deepest condolences to the families of the Marines who lost their lives in this deadly crash. We are praying for those who also suffered injuries. https://t.co/sztAUHbpeB
— President Biden (@POTUS) August 28, 2023
The following report was funded, in part, by the ARLnow Press Club. Become a member today and support in-depth local journalism.
From 2019 until 2022, there were no reported juvenile overdoses on Arlington Public Schools grounds. In the first six weeks of 2023, there have been three, including one that was fatal.
Meanwhile, drug possession and distribution cases remain lower than they were before school buildings closed during the pandemic, but appear to be on the rise.
The Arlington County Police Department, which provided the data in response to a FOIA request by ARLnow, says factors that could have impacted the number of reported cases possession and distribution cases include Covid-related school closures and legislative changes.
State statute was modified so that school principals were only required to report to law enforcement possible felony drug possession cases, such as possession of oxycodone or Adderall without a prescription.
The data seems to suggest drug use on school grounds is rising, as is the possession of substances that carry felony charges. These emerging trends were thrown into relief last week when a student was found unconscious at Wakefield High School, and later died at the hospital of an apparent drug overdose. Four other students that day were evaluated and dispatches for possible overdoses continued into the next week.
While parents have been concerned about opioids since kids returned to school following the pandemic closures, the events of last week prompted a parent march and a School Board work session on opioids. During the School Board meeting — complete with a demonstration of the overdose reversal drug naloxone — substance abuse counselor Jenny Sexton said her team is most concerned about young people crushing up and smoking illicitly manufactured opioids.
These pills are cheap and can be purchased on social media. Some contain fentanyl, which is a synthetic opioid that is 50-100 times more potent than morphine and can only be detected once the pill is taken or if the user has a fentanyl test strip.
School Board members asked administrators what additional steps they are taking to improve school security and increase drug use prevention efforts and substance use recovery support. They also assured those watching they are taking this issue seriously.
“I hope that you hear that we are moving on this, that we feel the sense of urgency and that everyone around this table, and that everyone who is at APS, we see the issue, we feel the fear along with you,” School Board Vice-Chair Cristina Diaz-Torres said, addressing the parents tuning in.
“We understand that that is not acceptable and that there should not be a version of the world where you have to live in fear of your child going to school,” she continued. “We are moving quickly on a lot preventative measures with immediate triage efforts to ensure that our students have what they need in the immediate future.”
(The work session recorded more than 750 listeners — far and away more than any other recent work session and on par with many regularly-scheduled School Board meetings.)
If you missed the School Board Work Session on Opioids & Substance Use in APS: Education & Prevention last night, I encourage you to watch the recording & share it because important info was shared about substance use & the administration of Naloxone. https://t.co/W9s3mqZJu0
— Francisco Duran, Ed.D. (@SuptDuran) February 8, 2023
School Board Chair Reid Goldstein stressed that combating drug use will require a community-wide response consisting of efforts at home and school and from the public.
“As a community, we must stay vigilant and well-informed and work together,” he said. “We have urged [the superintendent] to pursue every avenue to address safety and security issues at the schools by providing proposals to the board for funding consideration. It is through the collaborative actions of staff, parents, the community and students that APS will holistically address the needs of students, families and staff.”
In a statement to ARLnow, Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey said the County Board agrees with the need for a community-wide response and interventions at home, school and in the county’s neighborhoods.
“We are currently coordinating with our colleagues to see what additional resources and increased support Arlington County can provide to reduce addiction in our community, with a particular focus on youth and a goal that no other family has to experience the tragedy of losing a child to the consequences of substance use,” he said.
There has been a mini-spate of deaths and reported suicide attempts among Arlington Public Schools students in the last month, ARLnow has learned.
A middle schooler died after Christmas and a high schooler died in mid-January, according to sources in the school community.
Medics have been dispatched to Arlington schools a number of times since the end of winter break, for suicide attempts, overdoses and other substance abuse issues among students, according to scanner traffic. In one instance, medics were dispatched twice in one day to the same school for reports of suicide attempts through taking pills.
“Based on anecdotal information — reports from principals and Student Services personnel — we do remain concerned about the needs of our students and how they are handling the multiple impacts to their lives and how those are manifesting themselves in some of their choices, behaviors and statements around mental health,” Darrell Sampson, APS Executive Director of Student Services, tells ARLnow.
He couldn’t comment on specific cases, citing privacy concerns.
These incidents are part of a broader trend upward in mental health needs among children. Sampson says during the 2021-22 school year, APS saw a “significantly higher” number of suicide risk assessments compared with the 2020-21 academic year. Meanwhile, clinicians with Arlington County Dept. of Human Services reported seeing more students exhibiting self-harming behaviors.
Generally, he said, school mental health professionals are seeing students struggling to navigate stressful life experiences because they have fewer past social interactions to draw from due to pandemic-era isolation. APS ended in-person learning in the spring of 2020 and resumed in-person instruction for all students midway through the 2021-22 school year.
“You have kids… who have missed out on years of being able to build those resiliency skills and social-emotional competencies through everyday experiences,” he said. “Now, they’re back in school and they’re experiencing the same things our students have always experienced in school — whether that’s struggles with a class, or with friends, or struggles with everyday experiences — and their bag of skills is just not at all [equipped] and when things happen in our lives that are stressful it can impact them in more intense ways.”
Elizabeth Hughes, the senior director for research at the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia, tells ARLnow mental health is worsening among children in the entire Northern Virginia region. She will be releasing detailed findings next Wednesday.
Some 37% of public high school students experienced recent symptoms of clinical anxiety and depression last winter and 34% reported past-year persistent sadness, according to her forthcoming report.
One in 10 high schoolers seriously contemplated suicide over the past year, with comparably high rates among middle school students. Just under one in two high school students in the region had past or recent mental health needs.
She says the pandemic only accelerated a longer upward trend in anxiety, persistent worry, sadness and loss of interest among teens.
“The [American Academy of Pediatrics] has declared a national emergency around children’s mental health, but the word ’emergency’ feels so much more ephemeral than what we are seeing,” she said. “More youth than ever need help, yes. But this story is so much bigger than the aftershocks of a pandemic.”
(Updated at 5:55 p.m.) All three candidates looking to replace Sheriff Beth Arthur, who retired at the end of last year, say they have ideas for changing how the jail is run.
They each say their ideas could help save the lives of those detained in jail, which is overseen by the Arlington County Sheriff’s Office.
In the last seven years, seven men have died while in jail, six of whom were Black, which led the Arlington branch of the NAACP to begin pushing for greater transparency from the office as well as changes to jail operations.
In most cases, the cause of death was ruled to be a “natural cause” — such as heart disease caused by high blood pressure — although opiate withdrawal was a complicating factor in one such case. One man died because of a mix of drugs in his system and another died by suicide.
“I’m concerned because the status quo is not working,” candidate Wanda Younger, who recently retired from the Sheriff’s Office after 31 years of service, said when she announced her campaign to the Arlington County Democratic Committee last week. “I will work with the County Board and state legislators to ensure there is 24-hour mental health and medical care for those detained.”
She later told ARLnow that outcomes would improve at the jail with this 24/7 supervision, as well as new leadership and more deputies on staff. The Sheriff’s Office, like the Arlington County Police Department, has been experiencing attrition that has made it harder for the department to perform basic duties, she says.
“I am committed to changing the lives of the staff, changing the lives of the detainees and changing your lives,” she said in her speech.
Jose Quiroz, who took over as the interim Sheriff yesterday (Monday) after Beth Arthur retired, says he wants to implement biometric screening — something the Sheriff’s Office has been discussing but has yet to purchase.
Inmates in the jail’s infirmary, which consists of 12 beds, would wear devices to monitor their vital signs , notifying staff of a medical emergency such as a substance use withdrawal. Depending on funding, he says, he would eventually like all inmates to wear such devices.
“We’re in 2023, technology is advanced — let’s use that to our advantage,” he tells ARLnow, adding that jails in some less urban, less wealthy jurisdictions from Alabama to Montana are already using this technology.
James Herring, a police officer with Arlington County, says the county should bring medical care in house. He suggested staffing the jail with psychiatrists and therapists who report to the county as well.
“We need to shift from a system that only treats people when something goes wrong to a system that” identifies problems before they arise, he said, adding that the jail should conduct baseline physicals and mental health checks, Herring told us after announcing his candidacy last week.
That may be more expensive, but it would give the Sheriff’s Office “full control and full knowledge” over what’s going on.
“Ms. Arthur started as a budget analyst,” he said. “We got what you’d expect to get when a budget analyst takes over.”