Virginia Paramedic Dies after fall from Interstate

SHIRLINGTON, Va. (WUSA) – An Alexandria paramedic who fell from a cement barrier along Interstate 395 on Wednesday night has died, according to the Alexandria Fire Department. Joshua Weissman who suffered a severe head injury in the fall, died at 4:25 p.m. Thursday. Weismann had been responding to a car fire near South Glebe Road in Shirlington when he fell into a rocky creek below the interstate.

Virginia State Police says Wednesday night, it received calls of two separate incidents at Interstate 395 near South Glebe Road at the  Alexandria-Arlington County line. One call involved a three-vehicle crash in the northbound lanes of I-395 while the other call involved a vehicle fire in the HOV lane, open to southbound traffic.

According to Virginia State Police, the Alexandria Fire Department responded to the scene of the car fire. Their ambulance stopped in the northbound lanes of I-395 along the HOV lanes to get to the vehicle. State police say separating the I-395 lanes from the HOV lanes are two cement barriers with a three-foot gap in between. There is no pavement between the two barriers, say police, much like other locations in that area.

Virginia State Police now say that Alexandria Fire Department paramedic Joshua Weissman, 33, of Bristow, Va. was  climbing over the cement barrier to get to the vehicle when he fell through the gap and into Four Mile Run Creek, approximately 30 feet below the interstate.

Weissman, who worked out of the Seminary Road Station in Alexandria, was extricated from the creek by Alexandria City and Arlington County firefigthers and taken to Med Star with life threatening injuries.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.