Community Corner

Top 16 of VA/DC: Cop Shot, Robbery Arrests, Toy Guns, and 11 Bathrooms for only $12 Million

Top news of the week from our Patches around Virginia and DC.

Patch has 31 community sites in Virginia and D.C. Here are some of the top stories from around the region over the past week.

16. Construction Rescue: Fairfax County Fire and Rescue personnel rescued a construction worker Monday who had fallen down into a 20-foot hole at Tysons Corner Center. The incident occurred at a construction site at the mall. Officials said the man was working near Lord & Taylor when he was struck by a piece of construction equipment and fell into the hole. He was taken to the hospital but escaped life-threatening injuries.

15. Muth Murder Trial: Albrecht Muth's attorneys and the prosecution are preparing for a March 25 trial for the August 2011 murder of Muth's late wife, Viola Drath, in her Georgetown home. This week, Judge Russell Canan granted a motion for independent DNA testing, per Muth's request. During a previous hearing, prosecutors told the court that the Metropolitan Police lab had nail clippings from Drath that may contain trace DNA. The prosecution had the DNA evidence recovered from the scene tested Metropolitan Police lab.

Find out what's happening in Woodbridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

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14. Car (And Pig) Business: No, there is no political or social statement connected to the statue of a man feeding hogs in front of Don Beyer Volvo along Leesburg Pike in Falls Church. In fact, the statue pays homage to the Beyer family that once raised hogs at Springhill Farm in McLean. Still people stop daily to snap pictures of the happy hogs and the man feeding them. “My father and uncle grew up on Springhill Farm but the man in the statue is open to interpretation,” said Michael Beyer, owner and president of the auto group. The statue, made of wood and dipped in aluminum, has been the single best advertisement the dealership has had in 40 years, Beyer said.

13. Sequestration Underway: Crystal City restaurant owners are among those in Virginia already starting to feel the squeeze that comes with sequestration in the form of dwindling lunch crowds. “Absolutely, I’m concerned,” said Jim Madden, owner of the Crystal City Sports Pub, which has been in business since 1994. “Quite a bit has happened here already with the Navy Yard moving and BRAC. We would be additionally concerned with any kind of cutbacks that would come here.”

12. Police Standoff: A Herndon man involved in a more than eight-hour standoff with Fairfax County police was taken into custody in the early hours of Tuesday morning, according to county dispatchers.  The man, who lives in a home on Youngs Point Place in the Hiddenbrook neighborhood, was threatening to harm himself, and police believed he was armed. The incident began around 6 p.m. Monday. Police and SWAT teams as well as fire and rescue units were on scene throughout the incident.

11. FBI in VA: The Loudoun County Department of Economic Development just announced that it has submitted eight sites in Loudoun for the proposed new FBI Headquarters. The sites were turned over to the General Services Administration, the agency charged with finding spot for the new HQ. The Loudoun sites can be found in the DED’s presentation to the GSA. 

10. Nightclub Closed Over Fatality: A D.C. nightclub and adjacent restaurant in the Shaw neighborhood were ordered closed for four days after a Mount Vernon man was fatally shot following a dispute inside the club Saturday. Joseph Hardin, 30, was killed Saturday at about 1:15 a.m. in a shooting outside of 1920 DC in the 1900 block of Ninth Street NW, according to the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. Detectives from the police department's Homicide Branch arrested and charged suspect Cedric Spicer, 24, in connection with the shooting. Hardin and Spicer allegedly got into a dispute at 1920 DC, a nightclub and lounge a few blocks from Howard University.

9. Homeless Count: On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday about 200 volunteers counted, photographed and got the names and histories of Fairfax County's homeless for the first-ever Registry Week. The effort is part of the 100,000 Homes Campaign, which advocates offering housing to the homeless. Partners include the Fairfax County Office to Prevent and End Homelessness, New Hope Housing, Pathway Homes,Reston Interfaith and Volunteers of America Chesapeake.

8. 'I Can't Sustain This': Dan Hale has been a teacher in Fairfax County Public Schools for 20 years, but he’s never felt or seen his colleagues as overwhelmed as they are today. He used to know his students as readers and as writers, he says; now he only knows them as bits of data or ECART scores; pacing points and percentages. The story was one of many shared by a few hundred teachers Monday night at a town hall sponsored by one of the county’s largest teachers unions, an effort to better connect school board members with teachers and workload issues that have persisted for at least half a decade, the union says.

7. : A 40-year-old man died Thursday after hitting a Fairfax County Police cruiser head-on. The driver, who fled his home after police responded to a domestic call, was headed eastbound in the westbound lanes of Little River Turnpike. The Fairfax County police officer in the cruiser at the time of the crash sustained some injuries and had to be cut of out the police cruiser receive medical treatment. The injured police officer was sitting in the eastbound lanes when the car struck the cruiser. The officer is now in stable condition a local hospital.

6. In Case You Need 11 Bathrooms: The $12.5 million Rivercrest mansion will be on the auction block at 11 a.m. March 21, Curbed DC reports. According to the official real estate listing, 612 Rivercrest Drive has seven bedroom and 11 bathrooms in a home on 1.2 acres. It's described as a "beautiful stone mansion overlooking the Potomac River" and an "amazing property [with] over 16,000 square feet of elegantly finished space." The home also features five fireplaces, a four-car garage, views of the Potomac River, marble and wood floods, large decks and more.

5. Jeffries Arrest: John Wesley Jeffries, the man wanted for questioning in connection with the double homicide in The Plains over the weekend, was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon, Natatia Bledsoe, City of Fredericksburg Police spokesperson said. Jeffries was apprehended at 3:50 p.m. at the home of a known associate, Bledsoe said. The arrest was made by members of the Safe Streets Task Force, which is comprised of law enforcement officials from Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Stafford, King George, the Virginia State Police and the FBI.

4. Bank Robbery Bust: A suspect in a Smoketown Road bank robbery in Woodbridge has been apprehended in Fayetteville, N.C., according to Prince William County Police spokesperson Jonathan Perok. Russell Frederick Culbreth, 34, of New Cumberland, W.Va., has been charged with robbery by PWC police. He has a court date set for April 17, 2013, in North Carolina. Fayetteville Police Department officers arrested Culbreth and a second suspect following a bank robbery Tuesday.

3. Hall of Fame: The Henderson name rings throughout Falls Church. It's on a school (Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School) and on a plaque in front of E.B. Henderson's former residence — and come Sept. 8, the Henderson name will be among those enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Henderson is among five direct-elect members of the Basketball Hall of Fame's class of 2013.

2. Toy Guns and the NAACP: The Alexandria branch of the NAACP is criticizing the Feb. 5 arrest of a 10-year-old Douglas MacArthur Elementary School student for an incident involving a toy gun, calling it “senseless” and “insensitive” in a statement sent to Patch Sunday evening because “by all accounts, everyone knew” the toy wasn't a weapon. Branch President James Williams and Vice President Jacqueline Johnson said they plan to meet with Alexandria City Public Schools Superintendent Morton Sherman to address the incident and how it was handled. The student is African American.

1. : An Alexandria police officer remains in critical condition after being shot in the head Wednesday morning during a routine traffic stop, according to a police department statement. Motorcycle Officer Peter Laboy, 45, of Alexandria, was responding to a look out from the department for a yellow cab minivan for a minor offense. In response, residents have been contributing to a fund set up on behalf of Laboy and his family.

Full Coverage: 

  • Donations Accepted for Wounded Alexandria Police Officer
  • Former Alexandria Police Chief: Laboy a 'Fun Guy and Real Caring Individual'
  • Son of a Cop on the Alexandria Police Shooting: ‘Officer' Laboy Is Also ‘Dad’
  • Update on Condition of Officer Shot in Alexandria
  • Lyles-Crouch in Lockdown Mode During Police Shooting


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