Crime & Safety

Updated: Man Stable After Falling 15 Feet Through Grate in Ballston

Rescue workers took man to Inova Fairfax Hospital.

Update (3:15 p.m.): The man who fell through a grate in Ballston on Wednesday morning has been hospitalized and is in stable condition, Arlington County Fire Capt. Bill Shelton said.

The man, in his mid-50s, fell through the grate, in the small grassy area between 950 N. Glebe Road and an adjacent building, shortly before 10 a.m.

The grate, which covered a ventilation shaft for an underground parking garage, collapsed as he walked over it. The man works for a company with offices in both buildings, Shelton said, and he was on his way from one to a meeting in the other.

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Shelton said the man's injuries were consistent that with a fall.

The property owner would be responsible for maintaining the grate. Arlington County Inspection Services' preliminary investigation indicates the grate is on private property, not county or state land, he said. Investigators have not yet determined who owns the property, though.

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Shelton declined to release the man's identity.

He said he only remembered one other instance of a person falling through a grate in this area in the past 17 years.

The building at 950 N. Glebe Road houses Buffalo Wild Wings and a First Citizens Bank in its ground floor.

Original article (11:11 a.m.): A man fell 15 feet through a grate in Ballston on Wednesday morning.

The middle-aged man had been walking from one building to another for a meeting at 950 N. Glebe Road, Arlington County Fire Capt. Bill Shelton told Patch.

"It looks like he stepped on a grate for a vent shaft or a parking garage. The grate collapsed and he fell about 15 feet," Shelton said.

At 11 a.m., the man was awake and oriented, Shelton said. Emergency responders were moving him with a stretcher and preparing to take him to Inova Fairfax Hospital.

At about 10:40 a.m., Arlington County sent out an alert that the two right-hand lanes of southbound Glebe Road between Fairfax Drive and 9th Street North were closed temporarily. Traffic was moving, but motorists should expect delays. 

Shelton said more information on the incident would be released soon.


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