Documents and Incidents Tagged "Northern Virginia"

A legal filing submitted to the Virginia Court of Appeals named Arlington County Chief of Police M. Jay Farr and police officers Stephen Clark, Ryan Reese, Christopher McClaugherty, Alexander Varaklis, Jenna Bartholomew, and unidentified "John Does."

The memorandum opinion issued April 18, 2023 by the Virginia Court of Appeals explains:

"The complaint alleged that appellees were jointly and severally liable for gross negligence (Count I), willful, wanton, and reckless negligence (Count II), battery (Count III), and separately that Chief Farr was liable for grossly negligent supervision of the police operation carried out by his officers (Count IV)."

On May 11, 2023, at 4:06 p.m., 38-year-old Brandon Lemagne passed a license plate reader which alerted officers to a stolen U-Haul in the area. An officer saw the U-Haul in the 6300 block of Richmond Highway, in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County. Lemagne pulled the U-Haul into the gas station parking lot, exited the vehicle then walked away. The officer can be seen on surveillance footage speaking with Lemagne then the two walk towards the officer’s cruiser. The officer told Lemagne he was going to be detained for driving the stolen U-Haul. Lemagne then fought the officer. He grabbed the officer’s firearm and tried to remove it from the holster. Two other officers arrived on scene. One officer discharged his firearm as Lemagne remained on top of the officer inside the cruiser. A second officer arrived on scene and attempted to remove Lemagne off the officer. He was able to pull Lemagne off the officer and out of the cruiser. The officer then discharged his firearm. Lemagne was struck in the upper body. He was declared deceased at the scene.