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Car passenger dies after crash with Fairfax County ambulance

By Catherine Chen

The passenger of a car has died after the vehicle they were in struck a Fairfax County, Virginia, ambulance that was on its way to an emergency.

It happened Tuesday afternoon at Worldgate Drive and Alton Square in Herndon.

A Fairfax County ambulance with its “full emergency equipment activated” was trying to turn onto Alton Square, but the driver of a 2007 Hyundai failed to yield and struck the ambulance, according to news release from police.

The car’s passenger, 35-year-old Irvin Escobar Lujuan, of Sterling, was taken to the hospital where he later died. The driver, 23-year-old Jose Lopez Martinez, of Nokesville, was also hospitalized with injuries that were not life-threatening.

Speeding and alcohol appear to be factors in the crash, police said.

Lopez Martinez has been charged with driving while intoxicated.

Two first responders were also taken to the hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.

Former Brazilian au pair testifies her ex-lover plotted to kill his wife, though lacks some details

By The Associated Press
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A former Brazilian au pair testified on Wednesday that she turned against her former lover in a sprawling double homicide scheme involving his wife because she “wanted the truth to come out.” For more than a year, Juliana Peres Magalhães did not speak with officials about the 2023 killings of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan, or about Brendan Banfield’s alleged involvement. But attorneys say that days before her own criminal trial, the former au pair changed her mind and began to talk. Now, Brendan Banfield is facing a trial in the aggravated murder of his wife and Ryan, and Magalhães’ testimony has become a key component of prosecutors’ case. Banfield, who has pleaded not guilty, could face life in prison if convicted. The way officials tell it, Banfield and Magalhães lured Ryan to their house. The two then shot him, staging the scene to look as if Ryan had been a predator stabbing Christine Banfield.
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