Stafford County deputies used a taser to arrest a wanted fugitive who had stopped to jump-start his vehicle.
The Stafford sheriff’s office reports:
Womack
On November 18 at 2:28 p.m., First Sgt. C.L. Cain had just finished working a traffic accident on Cool Spring Road near Fredericksburg when he thought there was another accident at the intersection of White Oak and Deacon roads.
As he pulled up to the scene, he realized it was a disabled truck, and another vehicle was trying to provide a jump start.
Later, James Womack, 39, of Mount Jackson, attempted to jump-start the truck. First Sgt. Cain provided the truck registration to dispatch and learned Womack had an active felony warrant in Shenandoah County.
Womack continued working on the truck as First Sgt. Cain awaited backup units. First Sgt. W.T. Johnson and Deputy A.W. Sypolt arrived a short time later, and the trio approached Womack.
Womack acted as if he was getting his identification from the vehicle. Womack darted from First Sgt. Cain into the roadway, around the car and toward the sidewalk. He encountered First Sgt. Johnson at the sidewalk, and the pair went over the guardrail and down a small hill.
Womack continued to resist arrest. Deputies used OC spray, but it had no effect, as Womack continued to try and wiggle away and bring his hands under his body.
The introduction of a taser ended the resistance, and deputies handcuffed Womack.
At this point, the OC spray had taken effect, and Womack began to complain about the burning. Deputies called rescue crews to wash out the spray from Womack’s eyes.
Womack was served with the outstanding felony warrant and charged with fleeing from law enforcement and resisting arrest.
First Sgt. Cain, the Traffic Safety Unit supervisor, does not overlook the charges of no title, no registration, improper registration, no insurance, no state inspection, fictitious inspection, and driving while revoked. These summonses will be obtained in the near future.
Ayala
U.S. Marshals carried out a warrant for an arrest for a man wanted in connection to charges filed in Florida, where police said he fired a gun inside a home during a domestic assault.
The sheriff’s office reports:
On November 17, Detective J.G. Wright III and Deputy D.T. Aubrecht assisted the U.S. Marshals with locating a man wanted in Florida for assault with a deadly weapon, discharging a firearm at a residence, domestic assault and battery, and uttering.
The subject was identified as Nicolas Ayala, 23. Ayala was reported to be in an apartment on Malvern Lakes Circle. The fugitive was located in the apartment complex and taken into custody without incident. The magistrate obtained a fugitive from justice warrant, and Ayala was ordered held without bond at the Rappahannock Regional Jail.
Detective Wright proceeded to execute a search warrant at the apartment where Ayala was staying. During the search of the apartment, two firearms were recovered that were reported stolen from Sebastian, Florida. Additional charges are pending for Ayala in regards to the firearms
In other Stafford sheriff’s reports:
LARCENY
Lidl, 1175 Warrenton Road, 11/18, 2:16 p.m. Resident reported her cellphone, wallet, and credit cards were stolen from her purse while shopping in the grocery store. Deputy D.T. Aubrecht will review the video inside the store to develop a suspect.
Stonehaven Drive, 11/18, 6:15 p.m. Resident reported a window on his vehicle was smashed, and a license plate that was sitting in the back window was stolen. The theft is believed to have occurred between 8:00 p.m. on November 16 and 7:00 a.m. on November 17. The license plate information has been entered as stolen in a law enforcement database.
VANDALISM
Jersey Mike’s, 1495 Stafford Market Place, 11/18, 2:17 p.m. Resident reported her vehicle was vandalized earlier in the day while parked in the parking lot near the restaurant. The car was scratched in several places, and a crude word was keyed into the paint.
Authorities arrested a man riding a bicycle in the area of Bells Hill Road after investigations said he had too much to drink.
The Stafford sheriff’s office reports:
Tour de Stafford Interrupted by Arrest
An intoxicated bicyclist was jailed this morning for his safety, and the safety of the motoring public.
At 9:11 a.m. (5:11 p.m. in Moscow) Deputy P.A. Thomas responded to the area of the Wayside for an intoxicated person call.
He discovered Jamario Dawkins, 39, of no fixed address pushing a bicycle in the 200 block of Bells Hill Road. As Deputy Thomas approached in his marked patrol car, Dawkins laid the bike down in the roadway and took a pull from a Steel Reserve beer bottle.
Deputy Thomas initiated a conversation, but Dawkins got on the bike and took a few wobbly pedals down the road. Dawkins was then ordered to stop and complied. Dawkins had glassy eyes, and obviously, an odor of alcoholic beverage. He claimed he was riding the bike to Spotsylvania.
Dawkins was charged with public intoxication and drinking in public. He was held at the Rappahannock Regional Jail until sober. The bicycle is stored at the Sheriff’s Office until he is able to continue his cross county journey.
Running low on office space, the Stafford County Board of Supervisors approved a contract with an architectural firm to study improving its existing workspace for county employees.
Dewberry Architects Inc., a Maryland-based firm, will conduct a space needs study of the offices inside the county’s general government building at 1300 Courthouse Road. The county’s staff, now 1,219 employees strong, continues to grow, challenging departments to find office space within government buildings.
Since 2000, the county has welcomed 64,000 new residents, according to population data on file at the Weldon Cooper Center at the University of Virginia.
In addition to the county’s central government center, Dewberry will also survey other county buildings to identify ways the county government effectively uses its existing office space. Stafford will use the study results to make decisions on how to best meets is order to meet its space needs over the next 10 years.
Study recommendations could include options for building renovations, additions, and new facilities.
Excluded from the study will be the county’s fire and rescue and the sheriff’s offices, which work from the Ford T. Humphrey Public Safety Building, located near the central government center. The regional landfill, court, and the Social Services Department will also be exempt from the study.
The county set aside $45 million to replace its iconic courthouse with a new judicial center built between the government center and the Stafford County Armed Services Memorial.
The study will cost county taxpayers $210,000. County documents did not indicate when the study will be completed.
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A majority of Prince William County leaders voted against adding qualified immunity to its set of legislative priorities for 2022.
Virginia law protects police and first responders from being sued if someone is injured or killed while performing their duties. In cases of willful misconduct, the law allows for exceptions.
In the wake of the death of George Floyd, who former Minneapolis police officer Derrick murdered in May 2020, Virginia politicians in Richmond began to talk of repealing the state's qualified immunity law.
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[Updated Friday, November 19] The Manassas Voter Registrar's office wrapped up its 45-day election with a final presentation to the City Council.
"Elections are now a marathon, not a sprint," said John Snider, who serves on the city's Electoral Board, referring to Virginia's 45-day early voting period that leads up to Election Day, annually the first Tuesday in November.
This year, the city saw a surge of early voting during the week leading up to the General Election on Tuesday, November 2, which saw Republican Glenn Youngkin elected Virginia Governor. Locally in the city, Lynn Forkell Greene and Tim Demeria were elected to City Council and the Commissioner of the Revenue, respectively,
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A 181-acre parcel of land deemed unfit to build a school could soon belong to the Stafford County Board of Supervisors.
County leaders plan to sell the land located at 135 Clift Farm Road in the Falmouth District. The parcel is listed at $1.3 million. However, according to county documents, that price does not reflect the current market value, making a reevaluation necessary.
According to the county's property records, the land cost was $4.8 million when the school board purchased the tract in 2006.
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A study that examined bringing extending Metro south from Springfield to Quantico is entering its final phase.
Wednesday, November 17, is the final day the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation will accept comments on its Springfield to Quantico Enhanced Public Transportation Feasibility Study. The state agency is slated to deliver its final report on its effort to the General Assembly early next month.
The process began in March and examined multiple options to improve transit in the Route 1 and Interstate 95 corridor from the Marine Corps Base to the Franconia-Springfield Metro station, the southern terminus of the Washington D.C. region's subway system.
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The Virginia Department of Transportation joined with other organizations to plant hundreds of trees in the Chatham Heights area of Falmouth.
VDOT was joined by the Friends of the Rappahannock, WePlantTrees.org, and Shenandoah Habitats to plant 660 trees on an acre of land maintained by the state. The parcel is between Chatham Heights Road, Marion Road, and Willow Street across from the Chatham Shopping Center.
The project is a contribution by VDOT to fulfill a requirement of the Municipal Separate Storm System permit provided to the department by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The permit requires VDOT to reduce the number of pollutants that would flow into the Chesapeake Bay.
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