Officer injured in car accident
A 44-year-old lieutenant with the Prince William County Police Department is in serious condition after a pickup truck collided with his motorcycle head-on Saturday afternoon, authorities said.
According to police, Lt. Phillip E. Harrover Jr., who was off-duty at the time, was driving his 2006 Kawasaki mo-torcycle north on Nokesville Road near Piper Lane in the Manassas area around 4 p.m. when a 2004 Toyota Tacoma traveling south crossed the sold double yellow lines and crashed into him.
Harrover was thrown from his motorcycle, hitting a 2003 Jeep Wrangler, said Officer Erika Hernandez, police spokeswoman.
He was flown to Inova Fairfax Hospital with severe injuries, Hernandez said. He was is listed in stable but serious condition as of Monday evening.
The driver of 2004 Toyota Tacoma that crashed into the motorcycle allegedly tried to flee the scene, but other driv-ers on the road blocked him in with their vehicles until police arrived, Hernandez said.
Police identified the driver of the Toyota as 30-year-old Obidio Arita-Najera, of 2289 Walnut Branch Drive in Culpeper.
He was charged with driving under the influence, unreasonable refusal to take a blood or breath test, felony hit and run and maiming resulting from driving while intoxicated, Hernandez said.
Police believe the Honduran national is in the country illegally, Hernandez said, and his information has been pro-vided to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Arita-Najera is being held without bond and is scheduled to appear in court June 4, police said.
The driver of the Jeep Wrangler, a 41-year-old Warrenton man, was not injured during the crash.
Staff writer Elisa Glushefski can be reached at 7036-878-8062 or .
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Reader Reactions
I went to School with Phil. There is no finer person on the earth than Phil Harrower. It’s a shame that his Chief was reluctant to take on the issue of illegal immigration. Hopefully he has finally woken up on the issue and will support the PW County’s resolution as doing the right thing and not because it was mandated by the PWBOS. So all you open borders nuts who write on this site each day, did this piece of crap work for you? What kind of human being leaves another lying in the road like that? But they are just here for a better life. Enough of that garbage.
The reason being illegal is big deal in cases like this is because the majority don’t have driver’s licenses and/or insurance. That is a HUGE deal is you get hit. Who is going to take care of the bills? It’s unfair that LEGAL citizens have to put up with this. Go to the PWC regional jail and look inside, mostly illegals. We need to get them out.
I passed this crash a little after it had happened and it wasn’t a very pretty site. Its a miracle that the officer is still living.
Someone commented once that they’d rather be hit by a ‘regular’ drunk driver than an ‘illegal’ drunk driver.
Let me tell you that’s one of the dumber comments that I’ve heard from these folks.
Just re-enforces that the PWC Government made the rigth decision to get these illegals out of here. I’m sure this one won’t injure anybody else, they’ll kick him out quick. I wish Culpeper would do the same.
To ‘spicolli’
Nooooooooooooooo “Spicolli” (weird name by the way) you don’t get it!!!, I am sad you even graduated from High School. I was trying to state a point to the other commenters who are accusing illegals as a whole. I hope you get it this time and don’t go writing ramdom comments to get some attention, because you defenetely got mine 
.
To ‘prudenciow’ and ‘cheilman’
Being illegal was not the “focus” of the article. The focus was that an off-duty officer was horribly injured by an alleged drunk driver. But now that you brought it up, hmmm, drunk driving is a crime, being in this country illegally is also a crime. Yeah, I get it.
This is a real bad accident. But why being illegal has to be the focus, and giving a bad name to all other illegal people. Check the news, there is millions of people illegally, why one has to give a bad reputation to all of them, is like saying american teenagers killing people at schools are nuts. But that doesn’t mean all american teenagers are nuts. Get it, get it!!!.
I feel for the officer. I ride too, and am very careful every time I mount up. As careful as you may be, one drunken idiot (illegal or not) can kill you. I wonder what happens next? He goes to trial, on our dime, we take care of his family on our dime while he is in jail. He gets out early due to overcrowding, is sent back to the hole he crawled out of, on our dime, and then we take care of his family, who were left behind. He returns a couple of weeks after deportation, buys a car, gets drunk and does it all over again. Ground Hog day! Wake up people.
To WMCRAY and Cheilman
IT WAS AN ATTEMPT to murder! Anyone and I mean anyone who decides to drink and then get behind the wheel is attempting to murder, mame, destroy, hurt etc etc. the fact that he is here illegally is another issue as well. I wasnt focused on the fact he was illegal, I was focused on the fact he was DRUNK and then tried to FLEE the scene and THEN I read where he was illegal which (I will have to admit) I thought “ ohhhh thats not surprising”. The illegals are making a bad name for themselves by breaking laws and making poor decisions and I do understand some illegals are here to better themselves and to support their families but you are going to try to convince me that this illegal man is here to support his family?? Pleaseeeee give me a break!!!!
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