01-20-06 Accident

My concern with the officer pulling his weapon was more along the lines of the danger to innocent bystanders in this neighborhood than the criminals.

 

Everyone in the minivan was fine it was just a minor fender bender. Just a dent in the front bumber

Staci

 

The officer also didn't know if the person fleeing was carrying a gun or not. As the wife of a Fairfax officer I can say that in situations like this ... too many unknowns, they are trained to err on the side of officer safety, have your weapon drawn and ready. They are also trained to NOT use deadly force unless absolutly necessary, i.e. fired upon. Don't believe the movies and TV where they fire at a fleeing suspect, they are specificly forbidden to do so. The rules for engaging deadly force and specific and narrow.

 

Loudoun County, Virginia- The Sheriff’s Office is raising concerns after a recent rash of unlicensed teens driving cars recklessly and then attempting to elude authorities.

In light of the incidents Loudoun County Sheriff Steve Simpson is asking parents to sit down with their teen aged children and talk to them about the consequences of taking on the risks of driving recklessly. Simpson is also asking teens to remember “learning to drive is a major rite of passage but it is also a time of great risk if they take chances while behind the wheel.” Simpson noted that recent incidents involving teens has resulted in arrests, serious injuries and the tragic death of a 15-year-old Hamilton girl.

Last week alone there were three separate incidents in the county where teenagers had taken a vehicle without the knowledge of family members.

The first incident occurred on December 16th when a deputy was running stationary RADAR on Route 9 near Hamilton when around 1 AM a van passed in excess of the posted speed limit. The deputy would attempt to pull the vehicle over when it turned into a driveway. All three occupants fled from the van on foot. The Plymouth van was left in reverse and would end up striking a utility pole and fence.

Two of the juveniles, both 14-years-old from Sterling, were tracked by a Sheriff’s Office K9 unit and taken into custody. The driver of the vehicle, an unlicensed 16-year-old from Sterling, was located the following day and charged.

The following morning around 4 AM a deputy was again running stationary RADAR, this time on Route 15 near Oatlands, when a vehicle passed him in excess of 80 MPH. The posted speed limit in that area is 55 MPH. As the deputy initiated his emergency equipment the car, a 2006 Volkswagen Jetta, accelerated. The deputy began to back off when he reached over 100 MPH. The deputy would come upon the car where it had crashed about a ½ mile south of Route 704. The crash took the life of the unlicensed 15-year-old Hamilton girl who was behind the wheel.

On Friday around 1:30 PM deputies were called to the Ashburn area for a vehicle driving recklessly. Approximately 15 minutes later a Sheriff’s Deputy en route to a separate call observed a 2006 BMW sitting at a stop sign at the intersection of Vestals Gap Road and Claiborne Parkway. The BMW backed up striking the red minivan and then fled the scene. The deputy initiated his emergency equipment for a traffic stop. The BMW accelerated and then lost control crashing into a small drainage field at the intersection of Demott Drive and Vestals Gap Road. Two of the five occupants fled on foot while three others stayed in the car. One of the fleeing teens would be apprehended by an off-duty trooper from the Virginia State Police and brought back to the scene. The driver was not located at this time.

It was later learned the BMW was taken from the home of a friend of the drivers’ family without permission.

Four of the passengers in the BMW, which included a 14-year-old female, one 16-year-old and two 15-year-old males, were injured. One of the 15-year-old males was airlifted to Inova Fairfax Hospital where he remains hospitalized. The other three were taken to local hospitals and treated for minor injuries. The driver of the minivan was transported to Loudoun Hospital for precautionary reasons as she is nine months pregnant. Her 3-year-old daughter, who was in a child safety seat in the van, was not inured in the accident.

The driver of the BMW, an unlicensed 15-year-old, was identified and located on Saturday was charged with Felony Hit and Run, Auto Theft, and Speeding to Elude. He is currently held at the Juvenile Detention Center.

The driver in the Route 9 incident was charged with Unauthorized use of a Vehicle, Eluding, Obstruction of Justice, Driving without a License, and Hit and Run. He was taken to the Juvenile Detention Center where he was being held.

 

Have the HOA or Sheriff's office thought about increasing patrol cars in the Broadlands area?
I have documented calls with the Sheriff's Office for almost every weekend, due to kids "drag racing" on Claiborne for over the past year. It's a shame that it seems like someone needs to get hurt, before appropriate action is taken.

 

They've been drag racing on claiborne/broadlands for years now. See my post about drag racing during hurricane Isabel.

 

The HOA Board has a deputy that attends all of our board meetings. We give him locations every month where drag racing, speeding and reckless driving are occuring that we know of and have had them increase patrols on almost every street here in Braodlands. Unfortunatly they can not be on every street all the time so incidents like this will occur. I am not sure what more the HOA board can do besides hiring a security company which we have reaserched. This would mean a minimum of $5 a month increase in HOA dues and that would only be for certain hours of the day not all day long. When we proposed this to the community 2 years ago nobody seemed very receptive to the increase in fees for the added security. If you see dangerous activity occuring please report it imediatley to the Sheriffs office and follow up with letting the HOA know so we can follow up with our officer or come to the next meeting and speak to him yourself. Our next meeting is February 7th starting at 5:30pm.


Staci

 

After moving away from the area for seven years and just recently moving back, I'm curious about the laws. I've heard that only one passengar is allowed in the vehicle if the driver is underage. Does anyone know for sure what the law is?

 

We will plan on attending the meeting - and we will bring our call log that we starting keeping last December (of the time/discp of the car/cars and the direction on Claiborne). Maybe the HOA would be willing to re-visit the idea of an outside company to patrol on the weekends or limited hours (11PM to 2AM)? That may lower the cost.

 

Why would you want the HOA to take on the responsibility to "patrol" the Broadlands via some outside Security Company? That would be extremely costly. Instead, how about lobbing for stiffer penalties for this type of actions for both teens and their parents.

 

Since the HOA works closely with the Sheriff's office - it seems like the natural first step - I guess you may have overlooked Staci's comments that the HOA had in the past looked into out-sourcing a security company. Since I am not a parent, I really don't have a clue nor did I feel like was my place to comment on parenting a teenager...much less lobbing Loudoun County/State of VA for tougher penalties. While your idea for tougher penalties is great, what suggestion do you have for our Community do in the mean time?

 

Security guards don't patrol the streets per se, like a law enforcement officer. In our case, they oversee the property, parking violations, road spam removal, and loitering issues. If anything comes close to an issue local police should handle they call them, document it and stay out of the way. They can report occurrences of reckless driving but usually time frame preclude effective action.

 

That is the whole point the Sheriff's office comes out after the fact - so they rarely encounter the drag racers. How about coming up with a proactive plan via the HOA or the Crime Watchers to work more closely with the Sheriff's office to get the speedsters off Claiborne Pkwy before someone gets seriously hurt and/or killed?

 

Those were the hours that we were looking at and like I said the residents were unwilling to take on the cost for that limited sevice. A security company can do nothing to alleviate this kind of problem they do not have the authority the police do so they would be calling it in just as a resident here would do. Besides most of the accidents, drag racing and speeding etc that you are talking about occur during the day not from 11pm to 2am.
We do have a neighborhood watch group but I can count on one hand the number of people that ever come out to the meetings or get involved with it. Great idea to come up with a plan but with out volunteers to design one it is very hard to do. It is also very hard to come up with a plan unless the county is able to provide deputies to inforce it. Just like most other HOA's in this area we, the HOA, asked for the liasson so we can pass information on to him and get quicker action and be updated monthly on progress.
I am not sure what more proactive steps any HOA can take beyond asking for stepped up patrols and increases in speed traps as we have done. Speeding and drag racing and accidents all happen every day and not just in Broadlands there is no sure fire way to prevent any of it.

Look forward to seeing you at the meeting.
Staci

 

What about the additional fines for speeding like they have in Ashburn Village?

 

We have been working with our Liasson to get information on how we go about getting this done. But so far it has been a long slow process as we need approval from both VDOT and the county if I am remembering correctly. Right now we we can not do anything until VDOT accepts the reamining sections of Claiborne into there control so they can issue permission for the additional signage. And then we can proceed with the county or howevr is needed.
Any additional fines just goes into the County's pocket so all it does in give the officers incentive to patrol the area more frequently. Thus far we have had alot of success just requesting the additional presence and the county seems to be responding (not everyday but much more often then in the past.
But it is something tha we are working on

Staci

 

I will say this, teenagers notice the security guard and certainly see his marked vehicle. He does provide a deterence effect but no enforcement effect.

 

I say we should bone up and buy some radar and red light cameras which would auto-issue fines in order to subsidize our HOA fees. If someone could get right on that, that would be great....thaaaanks.

 

This is the best idea yet.!