Officials in Fairfax County, Virginia, have put a police officer on administrative leave after a crash that injured seven Saturday evening.
Officer Justin Faison was allegedly off duty and driving a personal vehicle along Route 50 near South Manchester Street in Seven Corners when the crash occurred, the department said in a news release.
Seven people were taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries, according to the department’s release. Additional information about Faison’s alleged degree of intoxication and the circumstances leading up to the crash were not included in the release.
Faison, who has been an officer in the department since 2022, was arrested for driving under the influence and placed on administrative leave “pending the outcome of an Internal Affairs Bureau investigation.”
Over the past 12 months, the department has announced at least two other officers who have been arrested for driving under the influence.
On Sept. 9, 2022, 15-year department veteran Private First Class Stephen Copp was arrested while allegedly driving under the influence in Stafford County, a release from Fairfax County police said. Officials say Copp was not on duty when he was driving under the influence, but was driving a county vehicle “found with front end damage.”
The Fredericksburg Free Lance Star first reported that Copp’s Ford Fusion “disregard[ed] a red light at the intersection of Courthouse Road and Hospital Boulevard, nearly causing an accident.”
On Dec. 2, 2022, the county announced an 8-year veteran of the department, Nathan Jones, had been arrested while driving his personal vehicle under the influence, according to a release.
Results of Internal Affairs Bureau investigations into the above incidents have not been made public.
