Authorities are weighing whether to file charges in a high-speed crash that killed two Northern Virginia high school students and seriously injured a third Tuesday as they walked on a sidewalk near their campus, Fairfax County police said Wednesday.
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Police said they are still awaiting more data — particularly from a BMW that they believe was speeding when it collided with another vehicle and careened into the trio of Oakton High School girls — before making a final decision on charges.
“Detectives are executing search warrants for the airbag-control module to determine the speed of the vehicle and other electronic data that explains what the vehicle was doing prior to the crash,” said Howard Ludwig, a Fairfax County police spokesman.
Police did not identify the driver of the BMW but said he was an 18-year-old graduate of the Vienna area school. The crash came just days before summer vacation.
Two students killed, another injured in crash near Oakton High
Police also have not identified the girls who were struck, citing a Virginia law that prevents authorities from naming juvenile victims of crimes without parental consent.
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One of the girls remained hospitalized Wednesday. Those in the vehicles were also injured but less seriously, police said.
The crash occurred around 11:45 a.m. Tuesday when the BMW hit a Toyota 4Runner on Blake Lane, which runs near the school, according to Fairfax County police. At the time, the 4Runner was heading northbound and attempting to make a left-hand turn onto Five Oaks Road, police said. The BMW was heading southbound.
The BMW hit the 4Runner, ricocheted off the side of the road and struck the three girls on a sidewalk, before hitting a pole and coming to a stop, police said. The girls had just crossed Blake Lane before the crash.
Fairfax County police said they believe speed played a role in the crash, but not alcohol.
On Wednesday, students from Oakton and other high schools, as well as nearby residents, lay flowers and balloons at the intersection where the crash occurred.
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Jacqueline Hinojosa, 22, came to the site with her younger sister, a freshman at Oakton who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect her privacy. The younger sister said she knew the girls who died.
They were all good students at the school, Hinojosa’s sister said. One would share her detailed notes with other classmates to help them out, the girl said. There were counselors available at the school Wednesday and the teachers were grief-stricken, the girl said.
Oakton is on an early release schedule this week, the last week of the school year. Hinojosa said she saw backpacks on the road Tuesday when she was crossing the street after picking up one of her sisters from school.
“We were just going to come and lay flowers, so the parents know they’re in our prayers,” Hinojosa said.
Andrea Falkenhagen, a mother of two who lives along Blake Lane, said speeding is a well-known problem on the roadway, which has four lanes, a median and a 35-mph speed limit. In 2002, she said, a local news website dubbed Blake Lane “Vienna’s Race Track” in an article that discussed the death of another Oakton High student in a crash there the previous year.
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That is especially concerning, she said, because many students are in the area from two nearby schools.
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Falkenhagen said she is working with area residents and county officials to organize a meeting to address the issues. She said she would like to see the speed limit lowered on Blake Lane and more speeding enforcement on the stretch.
“I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had called to 911 for accidents that have happened right beyond my home,” Falkenhagen said.
Salvador Rizzo contributed to this report.