Virginia traffic fatalities claim 18 lives over holiday weekend
Twelve men and women, including two motorcyclists, were killed on Virginia highways during the 2008 Fourth of July weekend, according to preliminary data. The holiday statistical counting period began at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, July 3, and ended at midnight Sunday, July 6. During the four-day 2007 holiday weekend, 18 people were killed in 17 traffic crashes.

As of Monday, there have been 411 reported traffic fatalities for the year, compared to 504 this time last year.

Good samaritan jumped by roadway victim and gunman
A 41-year-old Alexandria man who stopped to be a good samaritan in the wee hours of July 3 found himself a crime victim.

At about 2 am Thursday, the motorist saw a man lying in the road in the 2200 block of Huntington Avenue, so he stopped his car to check on him. Another man with a handgun jumped him. The man who jumped him and the man lying in the road then demanded money.  The victim handed over cash and then was kicked in the stomach by one suspect, according to Fairfax County Police. The victim was taken to Inova Alexandria Hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

The two suspects then hopped into a vehicle driven by a third person and took off.

A police spokesman said the three men were black and in their 20s. The man in the road was heavyset and about 6-feet 2 inches tall, wearing blue jeans and a blue shirt. The spokesman said the man with the gun was about 6 feet 2 inches tall with a skinny build. He was wearing blue shorts.