THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2010


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B5 Police suspend deputy chief after domestic complaint


Court grants wife protective order in Pr. George’s


by Matt Zapotosky Prince George’s County police


have suspended a deputy chief after he was accused of taking a “closed fist” swing at his wife


Suspicious items cause disruptions in NW D.C.


by Rick Rojas


Suspicious packages, and de- tours around them, are part of living and working in the Dis- trict. Delays are typically brief. But two separate packages Wednesday left several blocks in Northwest closed for hours. Police responded to a call about 7:45 a.m. near 19th and F streets. By the early afternoon, D.C. officers and agents with the FBI’s Washington field office had determined that a contraption made of pipe was not a bomb or an explosive device, the FBI said. Still, car and pedestrian traffic were blocked on 19th Street from F Street through Pennsylvania Avenue until after 1 p.m. Stu- dents and interns living in George Washington University residence halls near 19th Street were told to stay indoors, said Darrell Darnell, senior associate director for campus security. They couldn’t leave until about 1 p.m.


About 2:40 p.m., Metro shut down the Columbia Heights sta- tion after reports of another sus- picious package. A gray suitcase had been left near a construction zone at 14th and Irving streets NW. It turned out to be full of tools. The station had been re- opened by 3:30.


Although both packages turned out to not contain explo- sives, Lindsay Godwin, a spokes- woman for the FBI’s Washington field office, said that safety and security trump disruptions to traffic and routines. rojasr@washpost.com


and threatening to lock her out of the couple’s Beltsville home, according to police and court records. Deputy Chief Gary Cunning- ham, who heads the bureau of administration, was suspended Tuesday, a day after his wife ob- tained a temporary protective order against him, records show. Cunningham was banned from entering nonpublic areas of any police facility, which is typ-


ical for suspended officers. Rec- ords show that he was also or- dered to turn over any firearms, which is typical of protective or- ders. He will be paid during his suspension. Police Chief Roberto L. Hylton said Cunningham was suspend- ed because “there’s an allegation involving a domestic issue,” but Hylton declined to provide de- tails because the investigation is ongoing. It is unusual for county


police to suspend a deputy chief. Cunningham is one of only four deputy chiefs. “It’s a discretionary suspen- sion that we do with all of our employees that are involved in some type of allegations involv- ing domestics,” Hylton said. “From my perspective, he’s a very good police officer [who] has performed in a very exem- plary manner, but, of course, we are going to be objective and


conduct an investigation, like we do for everyone else.” On Monday, Cunningham’s wife, Denise Cunningham, ob- tained a temporary protective order barring her husband from their home. She wrote in her pe- tition that Gary Cunningham “swung at me with a closed fist but I ducked to avoid being hit.” Denise Cunningham also ac- cused her husband of calling her names, yelling at her 7-year-old


daughter and threatening to lock her out of the house. Gary Cunningham declined to comment on the suspension. “It’s a personal matter,” he said. Online court records show


that he filed a petition for pro- tection against his wife Wednes- day but that his petition was de- nied. Denise Cunningham did not return a phone message seeking comment. zapotoskym@washpost.com


Guilty plea in slaying of woman, 2 sons


by Keith L. Alexander


A Northeast Washington man pleaded guilty Tuesday to the 2009 fatal stabbing of his girl- friend and her two young sons in the apartment they shared dur- ing an abusive relationship. In D.C. Superior Court, Joseph


R. Mays, 46, pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree murder in the March 21, 2009, slayings of his girlfriend, Erica Peters, 38, and her two sons, Da- kota Peters, 10, and Eric Harper, 11, in the 2000 block of Maryland Avenue NE. The couple’s then-3- year-old daughter, Ashleigh, was unharmed. The D.C. police response was scrutinized after a 911 call sur- faced in which Eric was calling for help during the attack. Members of Peters’s family be-


Breathtaking butterflies L stabbing from B1


between Nutley Street and Gal- lows Road, before she ended up in the wooded area near some most- ly empty medical office buildings at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, when a driver spotted the Scion on its side. The area where Pham’s car was found is close to three of Fairfax County’s busiest mental-health fa- cilities: the inpatient Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute, the outpatient Woodburn Center for Community Mental Health and Inova Fairfax Hospital. Homeless people set up camp in the area, police said. Detectives are considering the possibility that someone Pham didn’t know


ea Bilke, 8 of Bethesda, right, gets excited as a butterfly lands on her brother, Luca. They took in the “Wings


of Fancy” butterfly exhibit at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, where more than 500 butterflies, such as the ones at right, are on display. The exhibit continues until Sept. 19.


MICHAEL S. WILLIAMSON/THE WASHINGTON POST


came irate when they discovered that a police officer waited out- side the door for 30 minutes be- fore trying to break in. According to testimony earlier in the case, the officer heard the faint sound of a child crying out, “No, stop,” but waited for authorization from a supervisor. The door was barricaded from inside with a metal rod, and officers waited for a fire department crew to enter the home. Relatives wondered whether


any of the victims might have sur- vived if the officer had tried to break into the apartment earlier. The three victims died of stab wounds to the head and body. According to the U.S. attorney’s


office, Mays faces a maximum of 120 years is prison, but he is likely to be sentenced to 30 to 46 years. Mays is scheduled to be sen- tenced Nov. 12 by Judge Gerald I. Fisher.


alexanderk@washpost.com Police warn public ‘to be on guard’ in wake of Fairfax student’s fatal stabbing


simply climbed into her car at a stoplight. But it’s only one possibility. Mentally ill people are not, by and large, violent toward stran- gers. But police say they think, Gregory D. Murphy, a paranoid schizophrenic, walked up to 8- year-old Kevin Shifflett, who was playing on a sidewalk in Alexan- dria, and stabbed him to death in 2000. Murphy repeatedly has been found too mentally ill to stand trial. “We don’t know that this is not


a stranger attack,” Officer Bud Walker, a police spokesman, said. “Because of that, we do feel there is a public safety issue, and feel the need to warn the public to be


on guard.” Pham’s death stunned the wide circle of friends she had accumu- lated from her grade-school years at Marshall Road Elementary School, through Thoreau Middle School, to her four years at James Madison High School in Vienna, and her freshman year at the Sa- vannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. Early on, she showed a talent for art and fashion that runs through her family, said her cousin Tracy To, who works in the New York fashion industry. Ally McKay, who had known Pham since kindergarten, said, “Even when she was little, she was drawing dresses.” At the vigil out- side Madison High, McKay said


she and Pham studied each morn- ing in a specialized fashion-design program at Fairfax High School before returning to Madison for the rest of their classes. McKay said that drawings she and Pham worked on “probably helped me get into college.” Min Kim said she was waiting for cheerleading tryouts to start in eighth grade when a girl sidled up to her.


“So, you’re Asian,” Pham said to her.


“Uh, yeah,” Kim replied. “Nice. I’m Vanessa.” Kim said the exchange “signi-


fies how bubbly she was and how friendly she was.” They became friends, hanging out at each oth-


LOCAL DIGEST MARYLAND


Arrest made in Seat Pleasant death


A Seat Pleasant man was arrest- ed and charged Tuesday in connec- tion with the fatal shooting of a man last month in a Seat Pleasant store. Harold C. Hairston, 21, was


charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Keith A. Vereen, 43, of Southeast Washington. Vereen was shot May 15 in Jerry’s Carry Out on Martin Luther King Jr. Highway, police said. It remains unclear how police found Hairston. Authorities said the homicide stemmed from a per- sonal dispute between the men. —Matt Zapotosky


Pr. George’s trail project begins


Construction has started on a


two-mile trail project in Prince George’s County that will connect Bladensburg’s Waterfront Park to the Maryland-District line and to the District’s Anacostia Trail sys- tem, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Mal- ley (D) announced Wednesday. The state and the Maryland-


National Capital Park and Plan- ning Commission are partners in the project, known as Maryland Trails: A Greener Way to Go. The Maryland Transportation


Department’s Congestion Mitiga- tion and Air Quality Program, which funds projects to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality, is paying for the $1.3 mil- lion project. The trail is expected to be com-


pleted by the end of the year. —Ovetta Wiggins


VIRGINIA


Woman killed in I-395 crash Awoman who had slowed down


on Interstate 395 for traffic was killed Tuesday night when a car slammed into her car from behind, pushing it into another car, after which her car burst into flames, Virginia State Police said Wednes- day. The woman’s name was not re- leased pending positive identifica- tion. Police said she was driving an Acura north on I-395, near the exit for Seminary Road in Arlington, about 11 p.m. Traffic had slowed be- cause of a work zone when a BMW struck the Acura as it slowed in the


center travel lane, police said. The woman died at the scene.


The driver of the BMW was not se- riously hurt. No charges had been filed Tuesday night.


—Tom Jackman


Case dismissed in Reid family crash


A Fairfax County judge dis- missed a reckless-driving charge Wednesday against a truck driver who rear-ended a minivan carry- ing Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid’s wife and daughter, ruling that there was no proof that the truck driver had done anything wrong. Landra G. Reid, 69, suffered a


broken neck, broken back and bro- ken nose in the March 11 accident on northbound Interstate 95 near the Fairfax County Parkway. Daughter Lana R. Barringer, 49, had a neck injury and facial cuts. Both are recovering and were in court Wednesday. In a traffic pileup near the “mix- ing bowl,” their car was struck by a tractor-trailer driven by Alan W. Snader, 59, of Franklin, Ohio. Snader told a Virginia State Po- lice trooper that the Reids had cut in front of him just before the


crash. Barringer, who was driving a 2005 Honda Odyssey minivan, de- nied that assertion. Defense attorney Brendan D.


Harold argued that there was no proof that Snader had done any- thing wrong. Fairfax General Dis- trict Court Judge Ian M. O’Flaherty granted his motion to dismiss the case.


—Tom Jackman THE REGION


Man aboard sunken boat presumed dead


A 36-year-old man who was aboard a boat that sank in the Po- tomac River on Tuesday is prob- ably dead, rescue workers said Wednesday. “He is presumed drowned,” said


Sgt. Art Windemuth, a spokesman for the Maryland Natural Resourc- es Police. He identified the missing man as Daniel R. Myers, of King George, Va. Rescue workers believe he was not wearing a life jacket, Winde- muth said. He described the boat as a homemade steel vessel, about 20 feet long, propelled by a 150 horse- power outboard motor. Two men had been testing a piece of pile-


driving equipment and were trying to cross from Maryland to Virginia. After the boat took on water, one of the men swam to the Virginia side and summoned help.


—Dan Morse


Donations mean free rides for holiday


The taxis that provide free rides home to the inebriated are back on the road for July 4 after a last- minute rush of donors came up with $31,000 to keep the program afloat.


Big contributors came up with most of the money — MillerCoors gave $15,000; Geico and the Centu- ry Council each pitched in $5,000; the Restaurant Association Metro- politan Washington gave $2,000; the Beer Institute, Capitol Outdoor and Washington Wholesalers each contributed $1,000 — but scores of individuals gave amounts ranging from $20 to $500, according to the Washington Regional Alcohol Pro- gram. The nonprofit WRAP has oper-


ated the program during holiday periods for 17 years. It will offer free cab rides to revelers through- out the region from 10 p.m. Sunday until 6 a.m. Monday. To get a free


ride home (up to a $50 fare), call the SoberRide program at 800- 200-TAXI.


—Ashley Halsey III


Metro riders get a fare break


Metro riders got an unexpected break on higher fares for about 12 hours from Monday night until Tuesday morning, after a death on the Red Line set in motion events that caused fare gates at all sta- tions to revert to early 2010 prices. After a man jumped on to the


tracks Monday evening at Gros- venor-Strathmore Metrorail sta- tion, Metro instituted what it calls “Zero Fare,” to allow customers to exit the same station they just en- tered without paying a fare. But after the incident ended, all


fare gates in the rail system de- faulted to the prices that were in place in early 2010, before both the June 27 fare increases and the 10- cent surcharge that took place in February.


Riders paid lower fares from about 10 p.m. on Monday through 10:15 a.m. Tuesday. Metro could not immediately provide an esti- mate of the lost revenue. —Ann Scott Tyson


er’s homes, gabbing about school and boys, listening to music from Coldplay and her abiding passion, the Jonas Brothers. They didn’t go out a lot — sleep- overs were the frequent social function — and boys were not a big part of the picture. Pham did not have a boyfriend in high school, Kim said. “She was the type of person you


stayed home with, watching mov- ies, doing nothing,” Kim said. “We didn’t have to go out. She was defi- nitely the life of the party, without a party.” In Savannah, Pham did connect recently with a fellow student named Aaron Apsley, from Jack- son, Ohio. They talked daily on


the phone, he said, “and by the end of each call, my cheeks were sore from smiling.” He had ar- ranged to fly in to see her and ar- rived as planned Tuesday. Just in time for her vigil.


Pham was the only child of Julie Pham, a single mother “who gave her everything. She worked night and day,” her cousin To said. The family is struggling to pay for a fu- neral, and friends collected dona- tions at the vigil.


jackmant@washpost.com


Donations to the Pham funeral fund may be sent to Navy Federal Credit Union, Vanessa Pham Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 3100, Merrifield, Va. 22119-3100.


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