On Sunday, April 21, around 10:21 a.m., an officer from the Mount Vernon District Station was involved in a crash with a cyclist at the intersection of Fordson Road and Richmond Highway.
According to police, the officer was stopped at a traffic light waiting to make a right turn onto southbound Richmond Highway from the Mount Vernon Plaza shopping center. The cyclist was riding northbound on the sidewalk of the southbound side of Richmond Highway. He entered Fordson Road from the sidewalk without stopping and disregarded the pedestrian signal. The police 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. The officer immediately rendered aid and called an ambulance which took the man to a local hospital with minor injuries. The 55-year-old man from Alexandria was charged with Fail to Pay Full Time and Attention. In accordance with policy, an administrative investigation is also being conducted into the crash.
Pedestrian and cyclist deaths account for more than 33 percent of all traffic fatalities in the region, mirroring national trends, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.
View the video of the accident at: https://fcpdnews.wordpress.com/2019/04/24/cyclist-charged-after-crash-with-fcpd-cruiser/.