Crime and Public Safety
State Police say speeding was a factor in yesterday’s accident that killed two people and blocked southbound Interstate 81 for hours. Troopers identify the victims as 61-year-old Emma Beckwith and 58-year-old Wanda Alexander, both from Florence, Alabama. Police say they were rear-seat passengers in a vehicle that was rear-ended by a speeding SUV; both were ejected in the resulting crash. Troopers say a Mississippi man was driving the SUV and charges are pending.
From State Police: SALEM, Va. – Virginia State Trooper C. Viera-Cintron is investigating a two vehicle crash on Interstate 81 in Roanoke County which resulted in two fatalities. The crash occurred at 11:15 a.m. on Interstate 81, southbound, at the 139.9 mile marker, just south of exit 140. A 2015 Acura RDX was traveling south on Interstate 81 at a high rate of speed in the left lane, when the vehicle ran off the left side of the roadway and struck the guardrail. The driver then lost control and the vehicle and struck a 1999 Ford Explorer; also traveling south on Interstate 81. Both vehicles then ran off the right side of the roadway and struck the guardrail, ejecting one of the rear seat passengers from the Ford. The vehicles then came back into the southbound lanes, at which time the Ford Explorer overturned, ejecting another rear seat passenger. The Acura RDX again left the right side of the roadway striking an embankment, overturning multiple times and came to rest in the tree line.
The 2015 Acura was driven by Ralph Carl Bryant, 65; the passenger, Joan Dickerson Bryant, 65, both of Brookhaven, MS, were wearing their seatbelts and transported to Roanoke Memorial Hospital for injuries received in the crash. The 1999 Ford was driven by Enid Beckwith, 59, of Memphis, TN, and front seat passenger, Annie Beckwith, 63, of Florence, AL; both were wearing their seatbelts and were transported to Roanoke Memorial Hospital for injuries received in the crash. The rear seat passengers, Emma Beckwith, 61, and Wanda Alexander, 58, both of Florence, AL, were not wearing seat belts; both were ejected and died at the scene.
Interstate 81 Southbound was closed from 11:25 a.m. until 4:39 p.m. All southbound traffic was diverted off the Interstate to Route 11 while the Virginia State Police Accident Reconstruction Team and the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation (Salem Division) reconstructed the crash scene. Charges are pending.
The Salem Police Department made three arrests today related to multiple vehicle burglaries and two vehicle
thefts in the south district of the city. Tyrese Hairston, 18, of Roanoke, Natayez Smith, 18, of Roanoke and a third juvenile male each face multiple charges as the result of their actions.
The burglaries and larcenies occurred between April 10 and April 14, and Salem detectives were able to obtain descriptions of the suspects and an account of the vehicle used to leave the crime scenes. On Tuesday, April 17, detectives executed a search warrant at the home of the suspects and found evidence related to the crimes.
Hairston has been charged with two counts of Grand Larceny, two counts of Vehicle Theft, four counts of Vehicle
Burglary, one count of Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor and one count of Petit Larceny. Hairston is at
the Roanoke County-Salem Jail where he remains on a $2,000 secured bond.
Smith has been charged with two counts of Grand Larceny, two counts of Vehicle Theft, four counts of Vehicle
Burglary, one count of Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor and one count of Petit Larceny. Smith also was
transported to the Roanoke County-Salem Jail where he is being held on a $2,500 secured bond.
The juvenile was charged with two counts of Grand Larceny, two counts of Vehicle Theft, four counts of Vehicle
Burglary, and one count of Petit Larceny. The juvenile is now at the Roanoke Valley Juvenile Detention Center.
The investigation is ongoing.
(from VSP) We have two confirmed deaths, two were flown from the scene that were life threatening injuries. The roadway is still blocked, and will remain blocked until the reconstruction is completed. Most likely another hour from when this message is sent (at 3:10pm). VDOT is detouring southbound traffic off the Interstate at the 141 southbound exit. The 140 southbound entrance ramp is also blocked to keep traffic from the scene of the crash. All traffic is diverted to Route 11 and may get back on the Interstate at Exit 137.
Pastor Natasha Harper demonstrating for a separate protest in solidarity with a prison strike in Florida
In a justice system that presumes you are innocent until proven guilty, more than half of inmates in local jails have not yet been convicted of a crime. We hear more from one Roanoke activist working to raise money for a mother who can’t afford bail before trial.
Ahead of Mother’s Day next month, the organization Roanoke Jail Solidarity is fundraising to help bail out a mother in time to see her children. According to the Vera Institute, between 60 and 70 percent of inmates at local jails are being held pre-trial, the majority of them for minor offenses. Pastor Natasha Harper is one of the organizers. WFIR previously spoke with Harper in September when the group “No More Jail Deaths” demonstrated in front of Roanoke City Jails to protest the amount of suicides and deaths occurring in the facility.
Harper’s stepson Clifton Harper ended his life while behind bars and she’s since made it her mission to help reform the criminal justice system. “No More Jail Deaths” now goes by Roanoke Jail Solidarity and partners with other grassroots organizations to advocate for inmates’ rights. Listen to the audio below for the full interview with Harper.
Click here to make a donation.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) – Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke has asked a judge to block a subpoena in a federal lawsuit filed by 11 people injured during a violent clash between white nationalists and counterprotesters in Charlottesville last year.
The plaintiffs are seeking to compel Duke to turn over records related to communications he and other white nationalists had before the rally, along with records of efforts to solicit donations.
In court documents, Duke says the subpoena is overly broad and would impose “an undue burden and a significant expense” on him.
A woman was killed when a car drove into a crowd protesting the white nationalists.
Duke initially filed his request in Virginia, where the lawsuit is filed. A judge ruled it should have been filed in Louisiana, where Duke lives.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) – A panel of Charlottesville community members has been chosen to make recommendations about how to spend money raised in the aftermath of a white nationalist rally.
WCAV-TV reports the nine-person committee that will review grant applications made to the Heal Charlottesville Fund is made up of community leaders, entrepreneurs and a high school student.
The fund was raised from thousands of donations that came in after the August “Unite the Right” rally. A woman was killed when a car drove into a crowd of peaceful counterprotesters the day of the rally, and dozens more were injured.
According to the fund’s website, the money will be used to help injured victims, provide trauma counseling services for the community and address the impacts of structural racism.
(from ABC News) After being praised as a hero by the mayor of Nashville, James Shaw Jr. said he was just trying to save his own life when he wrestled an assault rifle from a gunman who fatally shot four people at a Waffle House in Tennessee. Everybody’s calling me a hero, but I want people to know that I did that completely out of a selfish act,” Shaw said during a news conference today. “I was completely doing it just to save myself. Me doing that … I did save other people, but I don’t want people to think that I was the Terminator or Superman or anybody like that. I figured if I was going to die, he was gonna have to work for it.”
The 29-year-old Shaw, the father of a 4-year-old girl, was grazed by a bullet in the rampage at the Waffle House near Nashville, a restaurant he went to with a friend early Sunday after going to a club in the area. He also burned his right after grabbing the scalding hot barrel of the assault rifle. Police said the suspected gunman, Travis Reinking, 29, arrived at the Waffle House in a pickup truck. He was only wearing a green jacket and nothing else when he opened fire outside the restaurant with an AR-15 assault rifle. The gunman killed two people outside the restaurant, including a Waffle House cook who had gone out for a cigarette break. The gunman then fired through the window before entering the restaurant to continue his massacre. Shaw, an AT&T worker who grew up in Nashville, said the shooting erupted at 3:23 a.m. shortly after he and a friend took a seat.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Democratic lawmakers say a Virginia woman who has spent weeks up in trees protesting a natural gas pipeline that would cross her property is being treated inhumanely by authorities, who have cut off her deliveries of food and water.
Around a dozen Democratic members of the Virginia House and Senate held a press conference in Richmond to protest authorities’ response to the 61-year-old Mountain Valley Pipeline protester.
They also raised a host of other concerns about that multistate project as well as the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and called on Gov. Ralph Northam to impose further conditions on both.
Developers of both projects say they can be built in a way that’s protective of the environment and pledge they will help lower energy costs and boost the economy.
From Roanoke County: Just after 530 p.m on Wednesday April 18, 2018 police were dispatched to a Death Investigation in the 3000 block of Bandy RD. Upon arrival of the Roanoke County Police, a deceased male was located with a gunshot wound to the head. There is no threat to the public at this time.
Detectives were called to process the scene.
This case is still under investigation. Anyone with information in reference to this case is asked to the call the non-emergency number 540-562-3265
A drive-by shooting today in northwest Roanoke has two men under hospital treatment. Police say several people fired shots at a vehicle parked in a lot near Cove Road and Lafayette Boulevard. That vehicle then took off, but officers soon found it not far away in the 2700-block of Shenandoah Avenue. The victims’ injuries are described as non-life threatening. Police are looking for a silver Chrysler SUV.
From Roanoke City Police: At 1:56 pm, , Roanoke Police responded to a report of shots fired near the intersection of Cove Road and Lafayette Blvd. An officer was close by and arrived on scene in a short period of time, but was unable to locate the individuals involved in the incident. The officer spoke with witnesses who advised there was a vehicle parked in a parking lot when a silver Chrysler SUV traveling north in the intersection occupied by multiple individuals began shooting at the parked car. Additional responding officers located the vehicle that was shot at in the 2700 block of Shenandoah Avenue. Officers located two adult males with non-life threatening gun shot wounds. Both were transported by Roanoke Fire and EMS to Carilion Roanoke Memorial for treatment. The silver Chrysler SUV was last seen traveling Northbound on Cove Road. Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to call the RPD tip line at 540-344-8500. Callers can choose to remain anonymous.