Video footage showing a police officer from the Mount Vernon
District Station and a cyclist colliding at an intersection on Sunday, April
21, 2019, has divided opinion about who was at fault.
The Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) claims the officer
had right of way when turning right at the intersection of Fordson Road and
Richmond Highway in the Hybla Valley area.
FCPD reported on Wednesday, April 24, that 55-year-old
cyclist Thomas Crawley, of Alexandria, has been charged in connection with the
incident for failing to pay full time and attention. FCPD also released dashcam
footage from the police car.
Police said the officer was turning onto the Richmond
Highway from the Fordson Road exit of Mount Vernon Plaza when the incident
occurred. Crawley was travelling northbound along the pedestrian pathway and
entered the intersection just as the police cruiser began turning onto the
highway.
“[The cyclist] entered Fordson Road from the sidewalk
without stopping and disregarded the pedestrian signal,” police said.
“Our investigation shows the officer had the right of way
and determined it was safe to enter the intersection when the cyclist came off
the sidewalk and hit the cruiser.”
A separate video from another car’s dashcam showed the
officer immediately existing his vehicle after the incident and rendering aid,
and the cyclist managed to get to his feet. An ambulance transported Crawley to
a local hospital with minor injuries, police said.
Despite claiming right of way, FCPD has launched an administrative
investigation into the incident in accordance with policy.
The question over who is at fault, or who struck whom, has
been actively debated online since the video footage surfaced.
Fairfax County National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) claimed on Twitter that the officer wasn’t paying
attention.
“Today, an FCPD officer who wasn’t paying attention struck a
cyclist in a crosswalk and they charged the cyclist with a crime,” stated @FairfaxNAACP in a series of tweets.
“To say the ‘cyclist came off the sidewalk and hit the
cruiser’ requires a suspension of reality. When the front of your vehicle hits
the side of another vehicle, that means you caused the crash.”
Some have pointed to the incident to highlight the need for
more cyclist-friendly roadways.
“This is why we need improved bike infrastructure on U.S. 1
like YESTERDAY,” State Sen. Scott Surovell said on Twitter.
The incident over the weekend muddied the start of FCPD’s
“Street Smart” campaign, which was launched only two days later on Tuesday,
April 23. The campaign runs through May 13.
Fairfax County Chief of Police Colonel Edwin Roessler has
said that “pedestrian fatalities are outpacing our murder rate.” Pedestrian and
cyclist deaths account for over 33 percent of the County’s traffic fatalities.
According to statistics released by police, there were 16
pedestrian fatalities, 174 pedestrian crashes and 196 pedestrian injuries in
Fairfax County in 2018. So far this year, there have been eight pedestrian
fatalities, 43 pedestrian crashes and over 40 pedestrian injuries.
FABB takes issue with police description
of crash involving cruiser
The Fairfax Alliance
for Better Bicycling (FABB) has written a letter to Fairfax County Police Chief
Edwin Roessler taking exception to both the chief’s and the department’s
descriptions of a crash between a bicycle and police cruiser on April 21.
Bruce Wright, an FABB
Board Member and head of their Law Enforcement Working Group, says in the
letter that the FABB has “major concerns about the department’s response to the
crash,” which happened around 10:20 a.m. on Easter Sunday in the 7700 block of
Richmond Highway.
The collision was
captured on a dashboard camera in a car driving south on Route 1, as well as
the police cruiser’s in-car camera. The video shows the police cruiser stopped
while waiting to make a right turn on red out of the Mount Vernon Plaza
shopping center the intersection of Fordson Road. The cruiser begins pulling
forward to make the turn and then strikes the 55-year-old cyclist after he had
entered the intersection riding north.
Wright says Roessler
was incorrect to say the cyclist was going the wrong way, noting that the
cyclist was on a mixed-use path intended for pedestrians and bicyclists, rather
than the roadway. The letter also takes issue with the FCPD’s official
statement on the crash, which says the bicyclist hit the cruiser, and not vice
versa.
Alexandria resident
Thomas Crawley suffered minor injuries in the collision. He was later cited for
failure to pay full time and attention.
“It is simply
impossible for the cyclist to have hit the cruiser if [dashcam] video footage
is to be believed,” the letter says. “We also have concerns about the Chief’s
quote, which is contradicted by the Department’s official version and creates
the perception that the cyclist was riding extremely recklessly.”
The collision was not
reported by the police until three days after the incident, following the
publication of the video on social media and Covering The Corridor.
Wright says the FABB
wants further clarification for why the cyclist was cited, and requested a
meeting the the FCPD to discuss the issue further.
“We would like you to
clarify your comments and correct the police statement,” Wright says in the
letter. “If other officers read your comments and act accordingly, cyclists
will continue to be blamed for legal behavior such as riding against traffic on
a trail or sidewalk and riding in a crosswalk.”
The full letter, which was shared with Covering The Corridor and
other media outlets, can be read below:
Dear Chief Roessler,
I am writing on behalf
of Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling (FABB) regarding FCPD’s response
to the crash that occurred on
Richmond Highway at Fordson Road on Sunday April 21. In an April 24 article in the
Washington Post you are quoted about the cyclist injured by one
of your officers in the crash: “… He’s going the wrong way. He’s going against
traffic. He’s going against the red pedestrian signal. Once that bicycle enters
the roadway, they’re subject to all the vehicular laws.”
The Fairfax County Police’s
official statement about the incident states that the cyclist
was riding on the sidewalk, a mixed use path along that section of Route 1 and
not in the roadway. Further, that statement says “Our investigation shows the
officer had the right of way and determined it was safe to enter the
intersection when the cyclist came off the sidewalk and hit the cruiser.”
We have major concerns
about the department’s response to the crash with the cyclist — which both
the police dashcam footage, and bystander video footage
show to be untrue. It is simply impossible for the cyclist to have hit the
cruiser if either video footage is to be believed. We also have concerns about
the Chief’s quote, which is contradicted by the Department’s official
version and creates the perception that the cyclist was riding
extremely recklessly.
1.
The cyclist was riding
on a paved trail parallel to the road where it is perfectly legal to ride in
the opposite direction of traffic.
2.
A cyclist entering the
roadway, in a crosswalk, is considered a pedestrian and vehicular laws do not
apply. According to VA code 46.2-904, “A person riding a bicycle, … on a
sidewalk or shared-use path or across a roadway on a crosswalk shall have all
the rights and duties of a pedestrian under the same circumstances.”
3.
The cyclist did not hit
the cruiser, the officer driving the cruiser hit the cyclist.
The cyclist should not
have entered the crosswalk if there was a working pedestrian signal and the
DON’T WALK signal was indicated. However, FABB is concerned that your statements
and the official police statement implied wrongdoing on the part of the cyclist
when that was not the case (riding against traffic on a trail, riding in a
crosswalk, and hitting the cruiser).
We have heard similar
comments from police in the past about riding on the sidewalk or in a
crosswalk. In fact, such comments prompted FABB to seek a meeting with Chairman
Sharon Bulova and Deputy County Executive Roher to discuss Department
understanding of the law as it applies to bicyclists. A result of the meeting
was the production of a police training video by Officer Allie Eggers entitled
“Bicycle Focused Laws.”
We would like you to
clarify your comments and correct the police statement. If other officers read
your comments and act accordingly, cyclists will continue to be blamed for
legal behavior such as riding against traffic on a trail or sidewalk and riding
in a crosswalk. In addition, the comments feed into the community viewpoint
that all bicyclists are scofflaws and will flaunt the law.
We are also concerned
the cyclist was cited using Fairfax County code “82-4-24. Operator to give full
time and attention to driving.” According to that law, “No person shall operate
a motor vehicle upon the highways of this County without giving his full time
and attention to the operation of the vehicle.” The code specifically states
“…motor vehicle upon the highways…” According to VA code 46.2-100, “a bicycle
shall be a vehicle while operated on the highway,” not a “motor vehicle,” and
the cyclist was not on the highway, he was in a crosswalk. We would like
further clarification regarding this citation.
There was no mention
of the responsibilities of the motorist, the officer who struck the cyclist.
Had the officer looked right he would have seen the cyclist approaching. It was
the officer’s responsibility to cautiously enter the intersection and to look
right before turning, advice given as part of the Street Smart campaign event held
two days after the crash.
We would like to meet
with you to discuss these issues and to see if we can collaborate on improving
communication between FCPD and the bicycle and pedestrian community. Please
contact bruce@fabb-bikes.org to schedule the meeting.
Sincerely,
Bruce Wright on behalf
of the Law Enforcement Working Group, Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling
(FABB)
CC: Fairfax County Board
of Supervisors
Covering The Corridor
The Washington Post
Covering The Corridor
The Washington Post
