Pedestrian stuck at Dumfries lot Tuesday, police don’t take report

Dumfries, Va. –– Friday wasn’t the first time this week someone was hit at the Dumfries commuter parking lot on Va. 234.

After a 38-year-old man was struck and killed there Friday morning, now word comes that Jeremiah Boenisch, a U.S. Air Force Airman who had just gotten off of an OmniRide commuter bus after a day of work at the Pentagon, was hit by a car at the lot about 6 p.m. Tuesday.

He was walking past the entrance of the lot that faces Va. 234 when a car pulled into the lot from the busy six-lane road and then hit him in the knee, injuring the Medial Collateral Ligament.

“The guy stopped and got out of the car and told me the sun was in his eyes and he couldn’t see me,” said Boenisch.

Boenisch wasn’t seriously injured, or so he thought at the time. But when he got home he started to feel pain in his knee, and his wife then convinced him to call police and report the crash.

She called for him only to find an officer wouldn’t take the report.

“They said since the crash happened in a parking lot, and the report was being filed after the fact, they wouldn’t take it,” said Debbie, his wife. “That was really surprising to me. I guess pedestrians don’t have the right of way in Virginia.”

Prince William police spokesman Jonathan Perok confirmed what the couple had been told, saying that it is optional for officers to take a report in cases like this.

“A report is not required if a crash happens in a parking lot. We have the option of taking one, but in a crash investigation we have to be able to see what happened, and it’s difficult to do when drivers and those involved in the crash have left the scene,” said Perok.

Because of his injury, Jeremiah Boensich must undergo three months of physical therapy to restore his MCL.

“Thankfully I won’t need surgery on it, like I initially thought I would,” said Boenisch.

Friday morning’s victim was hit at 6:40 a.m., before sunrise, as he attempted to walk out of the commuter lot toward the McDonald’s restaurant across the street, police said.

Since the man was not using a crosswalk, the victim is considered to be at fault in the crash, said Perok.

The 49-year-old who was driving the 1999 Dodge Ram that police said hit the victim stayed on the scene, and police had not filed charges against him as of early Friday afternoon.

Investigators believe the driver of an older model box truck, which police say also hit the victim at the same time at the Ram pickup or right afterward, fled the scene. Police want to talk with that driver, said Perok.

The commuter lot sits at the intersection of U.S. 1 and Va. 234, and was recently expanded by 490 spaces last November, at a cost of $6 million, according to Prince William County documents.

While the old entrance to the lot remains – where the victim was fatally struck Friday – a new entrance was added to U.S. 1 to allow vehicles to move in and out of the lot easier.