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This article was written by WTOP’s news partner InsideNoVa.com and republished with permission. Sign up for InsideNoVa.com’s free email subscription today.
Police say a man slashed the tires of dozens of cars in a Dale City commuter lot on Wednesday, assaulted officers and tried to stab a police dog.
Police were called to the lot at 14090 Gemini Way just after 5:30 p.m. to investigate damage to parked cars and found a man had slashed tires in the lot earlier, then left on foot.
Later that evening, officers were called to the 14700 block of Darbydale Avenue to assist rescue workers with a man who originally had been reported as possibly unconscious, Prince William County Police Master Officer Renee Carr said in a news release.
“When rescue personnel arrived, the accused used a knife to damage one of the rescue vehicles,” Carr said. No one was injured.
Officers arrived to find the man still armed with a knife. He ignored their commands to drop it, Carr said.
More officers and a police K-9 arrived to assist and during a brief struggle, the man attempted to stab the police dog with the knife, Carr said.
He was eventually taken into custody and taken to the hospital for minor injuries, then released to police custody.
Police matched the description of the commuter-lot tire slasher to the Darbydale suspect and found he allegedly damaged a total of 33 cars in the commuter lot, Merchant’s Plaza and along Darbydale Avenue. In most of the cases the tires were flattened or cars sustained damage caused by a sharp instrument, Carr said.
Police charged Ajmal Haqyar, 31, of no fixed address, with assault and battery on law enforcement, attempted malicious wounding of a police animal, resisting arrest, destruction of property and public intoxication, Carr said.
