Local digest: Oct. 13, 2015
|
Version 0 of 1. A D.C. police SUV on Monday afternoon struck a man crossing Connecticut Avenue NW, according to witnesses. Tim Wilson, a fire department spokesman, said two people were injured — one critically and one seriously — in the incident at 1:44 p.m. He did not provide more information about the other person. A witness said a marked police SUV was heading south on Connecticut Avenue NW, with its lights and siren on, when it hit a male pedestrian crossing from west to east on L Street. “The impact was huge,” said Joan Maher, a nurse from Bethesda who saw the crash. — Peter Hermannand Julie Zauzmer A 19-year-old man with a knife was shot and killed by a police officer in Columbia, Md., on Friday after refusing orders to drop the weapon, Howard County police said. Police said Gary Carmona Boitano was shot by Officer Luke Buchanan in the driveway of a house in the 6400 block of Cardinal Lane. Boitano ignored repeated orders to drop the knife, and the officer was forced to fire, police said. According to police, they went to the house after being called by someone who said a man inside had a knife and was threatening to kill him. But police said Monday that there was no indication that anyone was in the house but Boitano. — Martin Weil An 11-year-old Manassas boy died Sunday after he lost control of a dirt bike and struck a tree, a Prince William County police spokesman said. The boy, identified by authorities as Colby Thomas Smith, was wearing a helmet, police said. Colby was taken to a hospital, where he died, Sgt. Jonathan Perok said. At 1:27 p.m. Sunday, Colby was riding on a dirt track in a wooded area in the 8400 block of Cabin Branch Court, Perok said. He said Colby was with two friends. At some point, Colby lost control and hit a tree, Perok said. — Victoria St. Martin A 50-year-old man died Monday after he bought 56 cents’ worth of gasoline, poured it over himself and ignited it, Fairfax County authorities said. Authorities were still trying to identify the man, who bought the gasoline in Herndon about 3 p.m. The man had second- and third-degree burns all over his body, said M. Anthony Barrero Jr., deputy fire chief for Fairfax County. Barrero said the man was flown to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Investigators think the man bought the gas at a Sunoco station in the 2100 block of Centreville Road. Barrero said people nearby tried unsuccessfully to put out the fire by dousing the man with water. — Victoria St. Martin Deaths from heroin and other opioid use outnumbered highway fatalities in Virginia for the first time last year, officials said. Records show that 728 people in Virginia died of drug overdoses in 2014, and 700 people died on the state’s roads. The increase in drug-related deaths occurred despite heightened efforts to reduce heroin use in the state, a focus announced a year ago by Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D). “The heroin and prescription drug epidemic is a public health issue, a public safety and law enforcement issue and, most importantly, it’s a family issue,” Herring said in a news release. — Associated Press |