LOCAL CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY

Teen driving over 120 mph loses control, slams into Va. police officer

By Omari Daniels
May 2, 2023 at 8:14 p.m. EDT

{Snip the video. It's on every local TV station. You'll wonder how this guy wasn't killed.}

Video shows a car speeding across Fairfax County Parkway and crashing into a pulled over vehicle on May 1. (Video: Fairfax County Police Department)

Police released video Tuesday showing a speeding car careen across the Fairfax County Parkway and into another vehicle and a police officer who was conducting a traffic stop — an episode that authorities say could have proved fatal and highlights the dangers of reckless driving. ... “It’s just miraculous that we’re not talking under different circumstances,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said. “By all accounts, this should have resulted in much worse outcomes than it did, so thank God for that.”

Deputy Chief Bob Blakley said that the incident began when a Sully District Station officer pulled over a gray 2012 BMW 750 traveling at 73 mph in a 50 mph zone on the southbound side of the Fairfax County Parkway just before Braddock Road on Monday. ... In the shocking footage captured by the police cruiser’s camera, the officer can be seen running away from the passenger side of the BMW he had pulled over, narrowly avoiding a severe hit. The careening car — which authorities say was traveling over 120 mph — collides with the vehicle that was pulled over, then runs into the officer.

“If he would have frozen … he likely would not have survived that impact,” Davis said. “He moved in the right place at the right time for that split second.” ... Blakley said that everyone involved had “minor injuries.” ... The officer and the driver of the vehicle he pulled over were taken to the hospital for treatment, Blakely said. The driver and two other teens in the BMW that crossed the centerline were not injured to the point of needing hospital care, Blakley said.

Fairfax County has noted a 62 percent increase in citations to teen drivers for speeding compared with the same time last year; a 98 percent increase in citations for violating signs or signals; and a 181 percent increase in citations for failure to pay full attention, Blakley said. He also said that police believe that teen drivers were involved in three deaths of an overall eight killed in crashes so far this year. ... “These are statistics we need to pay attention to,” Blakey said.

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By Omari Daniels
Omari Daniels is a News Aide working with the Metro department at The Washington Post. He has previously contributed to The Post’s Metro and Capital Business sections. Twitter https://twitter.com/theotherbigo

Speeders crash nearly proves fatal for officer on traffic stop. https://bit.ly/3Vruz2P #FCPD