Crime & Safety

Police Offer More Information on Woman Killed While Putting Child in Vehicle

Driver "is not a murderer."

Arlington County Police Chief Doug Scott has provided more information on the accident last month that killed Jennifer Lawson, a 39-year-old mother of three struck by a dump truck in front of Nottingham Elementary School last month.

Scott gave the update to about 100 members of the Williamsburg Civic Association updates on the investigation Thursday and said the driver of the truck was not speeding or distracted by a cell phone when the accident occurred.

“The driver has been very cooperative with the investigation,” Scott said, according to Arlnow. “We’ve done a forensic exam of his cell phone and that was not an issue… This was not a cut-through traffic situation. This gentleman was doing contract work in your neighborhood. He had been in and out of the neighborhood a couple of times that day.”

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Julie Monticello, a mother of six who lives on N. Ohio Street across from the school, said members of the community have to also look inward after the accident, ARLNow reported.

“I couldn’t sleep that night not only because of Jen, but also because of that dump truck driver, because it could have been any of us,” she said, while fighting back tears. “I know that’s so hard to say. That man is not a murderer, everyone should say a prayer for that man, because he’s not a murderer.”

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