Two people were taken into custody early Monday morning during an apparent break-in at Gunston Middle School.
A police officer arrested the pair at gunpoint after responding to the school on a routine call for a tripped motion detector. The officer first spotted a broken window then encountered the suspects inside.
Arlington’s previous generation of red light cameras went dark in 2005 after the Virginia General Assembly banned them statewide. The cameras were reauthorized in 2007 but stayed dormant in Arlington.
Now, the county is installing a new generation of cameras with the vaguely Bono-inspired name of ‘PhotoRED.’
It’s generally considered good manners to hold the door open for strangers. We’re pretty sure, however, that Miss Manners would not approve of pummeling someone who fails to partake in such common courtesy.
ASSAULT AND BATTERY-ARREST 05/26/10, 1200 block of S. Eads Street. On May 26 at 9:30 pm, one woman assaulted another after the victim did not hold the door open. Atiba Ayala, 19, of Washington D.C., was charged with Assault and Battery. She was held on a $1,500 bond.
Erica writes that she was going up the escalator at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday when the man suddenly took a photo up her skirt with a cell phone camera, grabbed her and walked away.
To make matters worse, as tears were streaming down her face she asked a “nicely dressed older woman” for help. The woman’s reaction? To shake her head and keep on walking.
It may not be a sustained trend, but there were at least three instances of people having their cell phones forcibly taken from them this week. That follows an incident last week in which a woman who was talking on a cell phone was pushed to the ground and robbed of her phone.
ROBBERY 05/25/10, 1800 block of N. Moore Street. On May 25 at 9:45 pm, an unknown woman and man approached a man waiting at a bus stop. The male suspect asked the victim if he had a cell phone. When the victim pulled it out, the suspects stole it and fled on foot. Both suspect were African American and in their early 20’s. The male suspect was 5’6″ and wearing a black jacket, black jeans and a black head covering. The female was 5’5″ with a heavy build, and was wearing blue jean, a blue jacket and carried a purse.
Usman Minayar, manager of the Crystal Beauty store on South Edgewood Street, said the suspect tried to stealthily put the $17 ten inch honey blond wig in a purse while her friend, a local stripper, distracted him.
When Minayar saw what was going on, the suspect made a mad dash for the door. He didn’t try to stop her.
A group of men in ski masks threw a cinder block into a window at the Apple Store in Clarendon overnight, but they didn’t break the glass.
The men reportedly fled after they were unable to break into the store. Police set up a perimeter and searched the area after the apparent burglary attempt, but they could not locate the suspects.
From this week’s Arlington County Police Department crime report:
DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY/EXPOSURE-ARREST 05/13/10, 3800 block of Wilson Boulevard. On May 13 at 6 pm, a man attempted to flag over a transit bus. When the bus did not stop, the suspect punched a window on the bus, breaking it. The suspect then exposed himself to the driver. Brian Lavoie, Jr, 28, of Arlington, was charged with Destruction of Property, Indecent Exposure and Drunk in Public. He was held on a $3,500 bond.
Investigators say a 5’7″ Hispanic man grabbed a woman from behind as she was walking behind a restaurant on the 2000 block of Wilson Boulevard in Courthouse. The man restrained the woman as he touched her sexually. She fought back and eventually got away.
The attack was similar in nature to an assault that occurred in the pool house of a Rosslyn apartment complex on May 8, police said. The victim of that assault was able to fight off her attacker, who she also described as a 5’7″ Hispanic male.
After a short time the suspect left the building and headed south on Eads Street. No one was hurt.
When police arrived, however, they believed the man may have still been in the hotel. In a tense scene, officers surrounded the front of the building with shotguns and handguns drawn.
Police used a Taser on a man in the parking lot of the Arlington Coin Laundry store just before midnight last night. It’s the first known use of a Taser by Arlington officers since the April 30 incident at a Columbia Pike apartment building where a man died after being Tasered by police.
This latest incident happened at 4821 Columbia Pike, just down the road from April’s incident. Police had been called to the location for a report of intoxicated men trying to break into the laundromat. Shortly after police arrived an officer reported that a Taser had been used on one suspect.
Police combed part of Ballston this afternoon looking for a man who broke into a car and stole a woman’s purse.
Police were able to track the man after a witness reported the crime, but he ran from officers and was able to escape.
