A somber Monday at a Northern Virginia high school after a 16-year-old student was killed in a head-on crash with a suspected drunken driver last week.

Before 10:30 p.m. Thursday, when it would have been very dark in the area, a man driving a 2023 Toyota Corolla north on Pleasant Valley Road in Centreville crossed the double yellow line and struck the girl in a 2013 Toyota Camry, detectives said.

The Chantilly High School student’s identity hasn’t been released, but in various posts online, she is remembered as a student who was widely involved and had a promising future.

"It's heartbreaking,” Washington Regional Alcohol Program President Kurt Erickson said. “I mean, there's no other word that you can use to describe it."

He says Fairfax County experiences an impaired driving crash every 13 hours.

"I think people think that the fight against drunk driving — that either we’re winning or that we've won the effort — when in fact the most recent numbers would tell a story otherwise,” Erickson said. “2023 are the latest regional numbers, and in those numbers, drunk driving fatalities in greater Washington are not only up by 4%, they’re up for their second year in a row."

He advises if you suspect someone is driving impaired, report them.

Northern Virginia

“It's easy to do that,” Erickson said. “If you are in Maryland or the District of Columbia, you do that by safely dialing 911 on your phone. In Virginia it's pound 77."

The suspected drunken driver, 23-year-old Carlos Parada-Hernandez of Herndon, is being held without bond, charged with driving while intoxicated, Fairfax County police said. Additional charges are expected to follow.

News4 reached out to Fairfax County Public Schools for comment on the tragic crash but has yet to hear back.