1 dead in 3-vehicle Prince William Co. crash

A Woodbridge man is dead after a three-vehicle crash Tuesday afternoon in Prince William County, Virginia.

Officers responded to Opitz Boulevard and Telegraph Road around 1:15 p.m. to investigate a crash, the Prince William County Police Department said.



Investigators determined a GMC van was headed westbound “at a high rate of speed” on Opitz Boulevard when it crashed into a Ford van that was stopped at a red light.

The crash pushed the Ford van into a Toyota minivan that also was stopped at the light.

A passenger in the GMC van, 62-year-old Mitchell Schaeffer of Woodbridge, died at the scene. Police said he was not wearing a seat belt.

The GMC’s driver was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, but is expected to survive. Police said he wasn’t wearing a seat belt either.

The drivers of the Ford and the Toyota were taken to the hospital with nonlife threatening injuries.

Police said speed appears to have been a factor in the crash.

The crash remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 703-792-7000 or submit a tip online.

Will Vitka

William Vitka is a Digital Writer/Editor for WTOP.com. He's been in the news industry for over a decade. Before joining WTOP, he worked for CBS News, Stuff Magazine, The New York Post and wrote a variety of books—about a dozen of them, with more to come.

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