2010 to 2019
2010
While the last movie in the series of “The TRANSFORMERS” was being filmed in Washington D.C. there was an actual accident. While what appears to have been an unfortunate communication error, a D.C. Officer’s vehicle was struck by “Bumblebee” while he is responding to a call. The officer did not know there was a live shot taking place. Fortunatlly no one was hurt and the production company had back up Bumblebee’s…
2011
Happy 150th Birthday
D. C. Metropolitan Police
Established 1861
The 2011 Occupation Movement of Washington D.C.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Occupy Movement, October 15 2011
Date September 17, 2011 – ongoing
The Occupy movement is an international protest movement which is primarily directed against economic and social inequality. The first Occupy protest to receive wide coverage was Occupy Wall Street in New York City’s Zuccotti Park, which began on September 17, 2011. By October 9, Occupy protests had taken place or were ongoing in over 95 cities across 82 countries, and over 600 communities in the United States. As of January 22 the Meetup page “Occupy Together” listed 2,818 occupy communities worldwide.
Occupy Wall Street was initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters, and partly inspired by the Arab Spring, especially Cairo’s Tahrir Square protests, and the Spanish Indignants. The movement commonly uses the slogan We are the 99%, the #Occupy hashtag format, and organizes through websites such as “Occupy Together”. According to the Washington Post, the movement, which has been described as a “democratic awakening” by Cornel West, is difficult to distill to a few demands.
Just after midnight on November 9 in London, Ontario, police evicted protesters from the city’s Victoria Park, becoming the first forced evictions in Canada. On the afternoon of November 11 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and later on the night of November 14, authorities forcefully closed down camps around the world in cities such as New York, Oakland and Zurich. Occupy protestors immediately regrouped and vowed to continue their protests, often returning to the cleared sites. On November 24, Edinburgh City Council became the first governmental body in the world to grant the Occupy movement official recognition.
A worldwide poll conducted in January 2012 found that around 40% of respondents were familiar with the movement, and that just over twice as many were sympathetic to the Occupy movement compared to those with an unfavourable view.
2012
Photo by Alesa Mackool
A man who allegedly robbed a Wells Fargo branch on K Street NW about 9:45 a.m. this morning was arrested a few minutes later at the Dupont Circle Metro station after attempting to flee on a Silver Spring-bound Red Line train.
Metro spokesman Dan Stessel says that the Metropolitan Police Department notified the transit agency to halt all the trains at Dupont after the man was spotted entering the station. He was arrested on board without incident and taken back to the street level in handcuffs.
Contact the author of this article or email tips@dcist.com with further questions, comments or tips
2013
2013 Inauguration
Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department
GUN RECOVERY UNIT
WASHINGTON (WUSA) -- Sgt. Buddy Smallwood says he remembers his first day on the job like it was yesterday. In fact, it was more than 17,000 days ago. Currently the longest-serving member of the Metropolitan Police Department, the now-72 year-old Smallwood joined MPD on July 20, 1964. Forty-seven years later, he's still driving a patrol car and still very much enjoying the job, despite the fact, he says, that the mean streets of Washington are a lot meaner now than when he started. Over the course of his lengthy career, Sgt. Smallwood has worked in four different police districts. His latest assignment, at the 7th district in Southeast Washington, started in 1977. A few years ago, the roll call room where he often presides was named after Sgt. Smallwood, an honor he calls one of the most humbling of his career. When asked how much longer he expects that career to last, the married father and grandfather says only that he won't make it to fifty years on the force in 2014, and that he's looking forward to looking back on a job well done.
Navy Yard Shooting Rampage
Sergeant Buddy E. Smallwood started at the 14th Precinct on July 20, 1964, which was located in the area covered by today’s Sixth District. Sergeant Smallwood was then promoted to sergeant in 1972, and assigned to the Fifth District. In 1977, Smallwood transferred to the Seventh District, and has been there ever since. The Seventh District Headquarters was then located on Mississippi Avenue, SE. Sergeant Smallwood’s last roll call was held at the Seventh District on April 6, 2013.
-Photo Courtesy Tony Brown
Members of MPD’s Traffic Safety and Specialized Enforcement Branch served as the backdrop during taping of a NHTSA video about seat belt safety last week. Pictured here are Lieutenant James E. McCoy (SOD Aviation), Sergeant Terry Thorne (SOD Traffic), Lieutenant Ronald T. Wilkins (SOD Traffic), NHTSA Administrator David L. Strickland (NHTSA), and Officer Charles Marshall (SOD Motorman). The Click It or Ticket program is a focused enforcement effort that MPD is proud help spread the message about the importance of wearing your seat belt.
2014
WASHINGTON (ABC 7 News /WJLA) – At the D.C. Police Department’s annual awards ceremony Thursday night, we got our first look at some of the heroes of the deadly Navy Yard shooting last September.
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D.C. Police Officer Scott Williams was leading one of the initial active shooter teams as they searched the third floor area. The gunman opened fire on Williams, shooting him multiple times in both legs. He received one of the highest awards
Navy special agents Brian Kelley and Ed Martin pulled a wounded officer Williams to safety and carried him down three flights of stairs.
Then D.C. Officer Dorian Desantis headed into harm’s way. The gunman opened fire, striking Desantis in the chest. His body armor stopped the round and Desantis fired back – taking out the gunman and bringing an end to the tragedy. He received the other highest award.
U.S. Park Police officers Andrew Wong and Carl Hiott were also honored.
They provided cover and engaged the shooter in the final gun battle.
And for their heroic helicopter rescue of the injured from the roof of that building, the U.S. Park Police helicopter team was also honored: the pilot, Sgt. Kenneth Burchell and Crew Sgt. David Tolson and Officer Michael Abate.
FOX-NEWS
Four Senior Captains
D.C. Police Detective shot in attempted carjacking, search underway for those involved
Wednesday – 8/13/2014, 11:13am ET WTOP
WASHINGTON — An off-duty D.C. police detective was shot early Wednesday morning during an attempted carjacking, and a search is underway for people involved.
A Metropolitan Police Department detective is in stable condition after being shot multiple times near the Suitland Parkway at about 2:50 a.m. The suspects attempted to steal the detective’s vehicle, shot the detective and then fled the scene in a burgundy Nissan Altima with New York plates, according to MPD Police Chief Cathy Lanier.
“They opened fire on his car and then started ramming the car,” Lanier says, adding that at this point, “it doesn’t appear that the detective ever had a time to fire back.”
One person is in police custody following a wild chase that went into Prince George’s County, returned to D.C. near RFK Stadium and then continued to Northeast D.C., Lanier says. At some point during the chase, at least two people fled on foot and police are still searching for them.
Lanier says police are searching D.C. and Prince George’s County for the people who fled the vehicle.
The detective — whose name has not yet been released — is out of surgery and is in stable condition.
Police have the Altima and are seeking information about any other people who may be involved.
There is a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. If you have information, call police at 202-727-9099.
The search led to street closures through rush hour. All lanes of the roads reopened by 11:10 a.m.
Man Swings Ax at DC Officer in Unprovoked Attack
WASHINGTON (AP) — District of Columbia police are searching for a man they say swung a large ax at an officer in an unprovoked attack.
Officer Araz Alali, a police spokesman, says the officer was sitting in a marked police car shortly after 3 a.m. Friday when a man swung the ax and shattered the driver’s side window. The officer got out of the car and struggled with the attacker, who fled on foot without the ax. The officer was injured, but not by the blade of the weapon.
Alali says police aren’t ruling out any potential motives. He says there’s no apparent connection to last week’s attack of a group of New York City police officers by a hatchet-wielding man. New York’s police commissioner described that attack as an act of terrorism.
© 2014 The Associated Press.
The Post's View D.C. police’s use of miniature, on-body video cameras is overdue
By Editorial Board September 25
BEFORE TOO LONG, District police officers on patrol are likely to have miniature, body-worn video cameras as part of their standard gear, in addition to badge, gun, handcuffs and nightstick. That welcome and timely measure, announced Wednesday as a pilot program by Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) and Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier, should go a long way to promoting better interactions between uniformed officers and civilians — and providing critical video evidence when things go wrong.
The price of equipping some 1,500 patrol and school officers with the cameras, which can be mounted on a collar, cap or even sunglasses, will be considerable; the devices can cost up to $700 each. But that’s a small price to pay, given the expected and potential benefits, which include a reduction in violent encounters as well as complaints against officers.
Police departments across the country, including those in New York City and Los Angeles, have started to test and deploy the little cameras. In many cases, including the District’s, the unions representing patrol officers have also welcomed the cameras in the belief that they will lead to better policing and a drop in the number of bogus complaints against officers.
Union President Delroy Burton, who represents D.C. police rank-and-file officers, cited the case study of the police department in Rialto, Calif., where the number of complaints filed against officers plummeted by almost 90 percent in the first year after the cameras were deployed — even though just half the officers were wearing them in each shift. Incidents involving the use of force by officers also fell sharply, the study found .
There are concerns about the rules governing the cameras and the evidence they collect. Among the key questions are when the cameras start and stop rolling; to what purposes the footage is used or not used; and how long it is retained in storage.
Those are legitimate questions; they are also possible to resolve in favor of constructive use of the cameras. In the District, Chief Lanier, in consultation with union officials, decided that officers will be required to start recording with a camera as soon as they receive a call for service; the camera will continue to roll until the call is finished. That should address the concern that the cameras could be used to troll for trivial administrative violations by officers or would violate their privacy.
It’s not hard to think of instances in which video evidence would do much to settle or shed light on bitter disputes about the use of force by police — think of the Michael Brown killing in Ferguson, Mo., this summer. And while some civil liberties groups have expressed concern about intrusive filming of citizens, that worry seems a little archaic. The truth is that anyone can be filmed in public at virtually any time, without their knowledge, given the proliferation of security and phone cameras. Their use by police is overdue.
Haz-Mat and the M.P.D.C.
2014
9-year-old DC boy shot in head surprised with tickets to see WWE wrestling show
What a brave young man.....
Stay Strong Jaydan - JAYDAN STRONG !
WASHINGTON –
A stray bullet hit 9-year-old Jaydan Stancil at a playground near his Northwest D.C. home in October. Since then, he has spent his time at Children’s National Medical Center and MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital. But thanks to the kindness of people inspired by his bravery, Jaydan took a special trip to make a dream come true.
This all started with D.C. Police Officer Matt Morris. He was part of a group that took some Christmas presents to the 9-year-old this month.
Officer Morris told us Jaydan is one of the strongest kids he has ever met and he just wanted to do what he could to make his already big smile even brighter.
He reached out to someone here at FOX 5 who put in a request at the Verizon Center. And on Monday night, this little boy’s dream came true as he took a very special field trip from his hospital to see his favorite professional wrestling stars at WWE’s Monday Night Raw.
At first, Jaydan doesn’t realize the surprise that is in store for him. But as soon as his mother shares the big news, the big smile comes.
“Tonight?” he asked his mother. “Alright, I want to go.”
Every moment he hasn’t been in surgery, therapy or doing school work, Jaydan spends his time in the hospital playing with his wrestling toys.
But getting a chance to see the real thing is worthy of an immediate call to his brothers.
Jaydan’s survival alone is a miracle. After he was shot near his home at the Mayfair Mansions apartment complex, many wondered if he would survive, much less ever walk or talk again.
“I stayed alive through all of this,” he said.
The bullet remains lodged in his brain. He tires easily and his left side and walking are affected. But he will tell you he is still tougher than even his favorite wrestlers.
His mother says a gift like this from so many people is a wonderful recognition of her son’s strength.
“It’s very exciting,” said Jaydan’s mother, Monique Nichols. “I love it. I’m glad. I’m happy. I’m appreciative to all of the people who have reached out to Jaydan.
But their problems are far from over. Jaydan is getting discharged from the rehab hospital on Wednesday and his mother has vowed not to move him back to the scene of the awful crime.
“I don’t choose to go back to Mayfair,” she said. “I believe the community there owes me an explanation. Someone knows who shot Jaydan and no one is talking, so I’d rather not take my son back into that environment.”
But that is a problem for another day.
“For now, we are just going to go have some fun at the Verizon Center,” said Nichols.
So off they went Monday night. The brave little boy with a big smile had a message for all those who are still pulling for him.
“Now I’m okay,” he said. “And thank you for praying for me.”
Jaydan still has a tough road ahead of him, including a big surgery in February to reconstruct his skull and his eyebrow where the bullet went into his head.
But finding a new home is the family’s most pressing concern. Money is tight with all the bills. Safety is also a concern as well as accessibility. He can’t travel on the stairs at his old apartment.
Nichols says she reached out to some city officials and continues to hope a little more helps comes on that in time
2015
Monday, Jan 5, 2015
A popular Northwest D.C. bar where five people were stabbed last month will shut its doors permanently, according to an A.N.C. chairperson.
Five people were stabbed at McFadden’s Restaurant & Saloon in the 2400 block of Pennsylvania Avenue just after 12:30 a.m. Dec. 27.
D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier ordered McFadden’s closed following the stabbing. The bars liquor license was suspended by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, citing McFadden’s “presents an imminent danger to the health and safety of the public.”
According to ANC 2A chairperson Patrick Kennedy, the bar will permanently close and physical assets will be sold. Kennedy added the bar had intended to close at New Year’s anyway.
Man Arrested After Bringing Replica Pistol to D.C. Police Station
Friday, Jan 9, 2015
An 18-year-old man was arrested for bringing a replica pistol to a D.C. police station, moments after carjacking someone in Northeast.
According to a news release from Metropolitan Police, D’Angelo Hamilton walked into the Fifth District Police station on Bladensburg Road NE around 10:30 p.m. Thursday when officers saw him attempt to remove a gun from his pants.
Two nearby officers quickly disarmed Hamilton, and found a black replica pistol on him.
Hamilton is facing carjacking, assault on a police officer and carrying a dangerous weapon charges.
March 31, 2015,
Armed prisoner who escaped Virginia hospital captured in D.C.
WASHINGTON — An inmate in a hospital for treatment after a suicide attempt overpowered a guard, took her gun, escaped and carjacked two vehicles Tuesday, setting off a frenzied search that ended nine hours later with his capture in the nation’s capital.
Assaye, 42, was charged earlier this month as the “Bicycle Bandit” – accused of robbing a dozen banks in northern Virginia and sometimes fleeing on two wheels.
Assaye had tried to kill himself in jail and was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital in northern Virginia on Friday, authorities said. He had been under the supervision of two contract guards.
Police say that about 3 a.m. Tuesday, Assaye overpowered a female guard when the other guard left to use the restroom. He took her gun and used her as a shield. He then fled down a stairwell, wearing only his hospital gown.
The other guard fired one shot in the encounter. No one was hit, and nobody at the hospital was injured.
Outside the hospital, Assaye fled on foot and hid in the trunk of a car. Police were unsure whether Assaye had left the hospital complex. They locked the hospital down and conducted a room-by-room search.
While Assaye hid in the trunk, the woman who owned the car entered it and began driving. Assaye kicked out the trunk and carjacked the startled woman, who suffered slight injuries, said Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler.
Assaye later abandoned that car and left the guard’s weapon there, police said.
Witnesses reported seeing Assaye on foot in an Annandale neighborhood a few miles from the hospital – not far from the site of the carjacking. Assaye then carjacked a second vehicle, police said.
By 10 a.m., officers were searching Annandale neighborhoods with a helicopter overhead and heavily armed officers on the ground. In one neighborhood, Spence Limbocker said he heard the copter, went outside and saw a massive police presence, including officers armed with assault rifles searching homes and nearby woods.
“They told me to get back in the house and lock all my doors. … It was a little scary,” Limbocker said.
Police sent numerous updates and lookout advisories on social media for Assaye and the carjacked vehicles. Roessler said the arrest occurred in southeast Washington without incident after a citizen saw Assaye and alerted authorities.
At a press conference Tuesday after Assaye was back in custody, U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Virginia Bobby Mathieson said he plans a review of the policies and procedures in place for guarding inmates at the hospital.
Still, he said, “two people should be able to guard a prisoner securely.”
He said that to his knowledge, Assaye was shackled at the time of the escape, as policies require. But Mathieson had no explanation for how Assaye would have overpowered a guard while shackled or how he may have shed his handcuffs.
The guards were with Allied Protective Services, a private firm.
Assaye was arrested March 20 and charged with a robbery at Apple Federal Credit Union in Alexandria. But the FBI believes Assaye, of Arlington, is responsible for a string of 12 bank robberies in northern Virginia over the last year and a half that netted him about $32,000.
Brooke Rupert, a public defender who was representing Assaye in the robbery case, declined to comment Tuesday morning.
Assaye had been booked into the Alexandria jail, which typically holds federal inmates charged in northern Virginia, on the federal charges March 21, Alexandria Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Amy Bertsch said in a statement. On Friday, he attempted suicide and was taken to the hospital just outside the Capital Beltway in Fairfax County for treatment, she said. Alexandria deputy sheriffs turned Assaye over to security officers contracted by the U.S. Marshals after the first 24 hours, she said.
It was not clear why Assaye had to remain in the hospital for four days. Mathieson said his only lasting injury after the suicide attempt was a broken nose.
Assaye made his initial appearance at the federal courthouse in Alexandria. He was charged with escaping from the custody of the U.S. Attorney General. Assaye waived his detention hearing and his preliminary hearing is scheduled for Friday at 2 p.m. He was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals.
WASHINGTON -Census Bureau shooting suspect shot by DC police after chase; officers injured, guard killed.
The FBI says an armed kidnapping suspect who was shot by police after leading them on a chase Thursday night is the same suspect who shot and killed a security guard at the U.S. Census Bureau in Suitland, Md. D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier and Mayor Muriel Bowser briefed the media after the suspect was taken into custody.
They said the situation started with an armed kidnapping at about 5:30 p.m. in the area of 3rd and T Street NE. Police believe it was a domestic situation. Then, around 6 p.m., the same suspect shot a security guard, identified as Lawrence Buckner, at the U.S. Census Bureau Headquarters.
Police say that guard approached the suspect’s car because it matched the description that had been sent out about the search for the kidnapping suspect. Buckner later died a hospital. Police say the suspect shot the security guard, and then took off, eventually becoming involved in a wild chase with D.C. police officers in the 7th District, who swarmed the area.
Lanier said it started when officers got behind the suspect’s car and shots were fired from the vehicle. This continued to 11th and H St. NE. During shootouts between the suspect and officers, the suspect and one of the officers were both shot.
Two other officers were hurt, possibly in the crash. Sources tell FOX 5’s Paul Wagner reported the wounded Metropolitan Police officer is a sergeant who may have been hit in the leg by a ricocheting bullet, but is said to be okay. Lanier said the suspect was conscious and breathing, but witnesses at the scene said he looked like he was dead and may have been shot in the head. Lanier would not confirm information about where he was shot.
Police said the kidnapping victim had been found around the time the chase came to an end. There was no word on that person’s identity or specific condition, only that the victim was said to be okay. What was a very busy H Street NE was shut down as a result of this incident.
When the situation started to unfold, the area was very busy, with many people on the street and packed in restaurants for dinner. Meanwhile, employees at the U.S. Census Bureau were ordered to stay inside and stay away from the windows while officers and even snipers searched for the shooter, thinking he might still be on the campus.
A spokesperson at Prince George’s Hospital Center said the security guard died at 7:19 p.m. Thursday.
Washington police name suspect in quadruple murder, mansion fire.
Thursday, May 21, 2015 05:42AM.
WASHINGTON —
Police in Washington, D.C. have named a suspect in a quadruple murder at a multimillion-dollar home.
The Metropolitan Police Department said officers are searching for Daron Wint, 34, after a court issued an arrest warrant charging him with “Murder One while Armed.”
Police say the identified Wint by matching him to DNA found on the crust of a Domino’s pizza, the Washington Post reports. The pizza was delivered to the house while the soon-to-be victims were being captive inside. A Domino’s delivery driver told WTTG-TV that he delivered two pizzas to the home. He did not have contact with anyone, saying there was an envelope with money for the order left for him outside.
46-year-old Savvas Savopoulos and his 47-year-old wife, Amy — along with their 10-year-old son Phillip and their longtime housekeeper Veralicia Figueroa were all killed. Police said three had been stabbed or bludgeoned before their home had been set on fire.
Text messages and voicemails from the Savopouloses to their confused and frightened household staff suggest something was amiss in the house many hours before the bodies were found. Their blue Porsche turned up in suburban Maryland. It too had been set on fire.
The Savopouloses lived in Woodley Park, where multimillion-dollar homes are protected by fences and elaborate security systems and local and federal law enforcement officers are a constant presence, in part because Vice President Joe Biden’s official residence is nearby.
On the day of the fire, another one of the family’s housekeepers, Nelitza Gutierrez, received a text message from Amy that read, in part, “I am making sure you do not come today.”
Gutierrez called Amy immediately, but it went to voicemail. She texted Amy but didn’t get a response.
Also that morning, Figueroa’s husband, Bernardo Alfaro, went to the house and knocked on the door, but no one answered. While he was there, Alfaro told WJLA-TV that Savvas Savopoulos called his cellphone and told him that Amy had gone to the hospital and Figueroa had accompanied her.
“My feeling was that somebody was inside,” Alfaro said. He continued trying to call his wife and got no answer.
Police have released grainy surveillance videos of a person they said they want to interview about the killings, but they have not identified the person or said where the footage was taken. It was not clear whether the person in the video was Wint, or a second individual.
The Savopouloses’ relatives have made few public statements and have not returned phone calls.
The couple has two surviving teenage daughters who attend boarding schools in other states. Gutierrez said she has seen the daughters since the killings and that they were too distraught to speak.
Savvas Savopoulos was the CEO of American Iron Works, a construction-materials supplier based in Hyattsville, Maryland, that has been involved in major projects in downtown Washington. Company representatives have repeatedly declined to comment. Savopoulos moonlighted as a martial-arts instructor.
Gutierrez, who worked for the family for 20 years, said she feels guilty that she didn’t check on the Savopouloses.
“This is a nightmare for me. I can’t believe they are gone,” she said. “I loved this family very deeply and the little boy and my friend Vera.”
Neighbors, meanwhile, are anxious.
Michael Lerman, 83, an inventor and retired pilot who lives nearby, said he and his wife started turning on their security system when they go to bed at night. Previously, they had only activated it when they left the house.
“This is an area that could be a target for a lot of opportunistic people,” he said. “This is a super-affluent enclave.”
ABC News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON – Fox News
A D.C. police officer’s wife said she was assaulted by a pack of ATV and dirt bike riders early Sunday morning in Southeast D.C.
The woman said she was simply trying to get these illegal riders to slow down on her residential street near the Prince George’s County line when they took offense to what she was doing.
It is a traumatic experience that left her badly shaken.
“We yelled at them to slow down and they came back and came into my yard and charged at us with the ATVs,” she said. “One of them knocked me over on the ground. I got up and he spat in my face and they tried to tear up my front lawn and then they left.”
We asked her if the group said anything to her.
“They called us some terrible names,” said the victim. “Other than that, not really.”
The woman suffered cuts and scrapes to an arm and one of her legs.
The police were called, but no arrests have been made.
“Our kids were outside less ten minutes before that with us,” said the woman. “Our kids play on the street. This is a neighborhood. The playground is on that street.
“They come through like 30, 40 miles an hour in a group. Anybody could have been walking. There are elderly people. There is a woman in a wheelchair who lives down the street. Anybody could have been crossing the street. Their vehicle could have been coming.
“How many people have to die or get hurt before MPD does something to stop these people? Let the police do their job. Enough of the community policing — put the law back in the police officer’s hands.”
As the policy stands now, D.C. police officers are not allowed to chase these riders and therefore catching them is tricky.
When we talked to D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier on Monday, she said she had not heard about the assault on the officer’s wife, but said the department is not ignoring the problem.
“We have multiple strategies that we are working on,” said Chief Lanier. “We announced a bonus to bonus program for cash rewards for information on the ATV problem. I think we have recovered in the last 90 days 37 ATVs, so we have been recovering quite a few of them. So we are making progress, but still lots of challenges.”
Just last month, reporter Charnice Milton was shot to death by a man on a dirt bike and this is certainly not a new problem.
Ten years ago, FOX 5 reported extensively on the problem showing ATVs and dirt bikes racing up and down District streets. The police have been unable to stop them. And ten years later, it is clearly still a big problem.
The woman who was assaulted said all of the riders were very young — teenagers — and said she wants the chief to come up with some new ideas on how to get these riders off the street before they hurt or even kill someone else.
A report of shots fired early Thursday at the same Washington Navy Yard where a gunman killed 12 people in 2013 prompted a massive police response and lockdown, but after an extensive search authorities issued an ‘all clear’ at the facility.
The facility where the shots were first reported was largely emptied Thursday as civilian and military law enforcement officers swept through, an official said.
The building initially in question was the same one where a gunman killed a dozen workers in a rampage two years ago, according to a second source — a federal official who spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to publicly discuss details.
JJULY 2nd: Law enforcement respond to report of active shooter at Washington, D.C., Navy Yard. (MyFoxDC.com)
There was a swift and heavy police response that began blocks away from the sprawling facility, which is about a half mile from the U.S. Capitol. Reports of the shooting occurred after news that the FBI was establishing command centers around the country to monitor any potential terrorist threats around the July 4 weekend.
“I am not aware of any specific threats,” Navy Capt. Chuck Nash (Ret.) told Fox News.
In September 2013, military contractor Aaron Alexis killed 12 civilian workers at the Navy Yard’s Building 197 before he was shot and killed by police. Some lawmakers have said Alexis fell through the cracks at the VA and should have been treated by mental health professionals, but they have stopped short of specifying what government doctors should have done differently.
The Navy Yard, in southeast Washington, is the country’s oldest naval installation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
2017
Mayor names Peter Newsham as District’s Police Chief
Longtime law enforcement veteran Peter Newsham was named the District’s permanent Police Chief Thursday, signaling an intent by the mayor to maintain continuity amid a steady drop in crime and satisfaction over the direction of the department.
The 52-year-old Newsham, who served as interim chief after Cathy L. Lanier departed in September, faces significant challenges as he takes the helm of police force with nearly 3,800 officers and one of the highest profiles in the country. The department is working to maintain relationships it has painstakingly built in neighborhoods where trust does not come easily and to rebuild a frontline crime-fighting force depleted by a recent wave of retirements. Newsham, whose appointment is subject to confirmation by the D.C. Council, has been on the force for nearly 28 years. He worked as an assistant chief under the two previous police chiefs — Lanier and Charles H. Ramsey — whose combined 18 years of leadership transformed a department plagued by allegations of excessive force and a city with a homicide rate nearly three times higher than it is today.
Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) praised Newsham’s “commitment to transparency” and his “availability to his officers and members of the public.” She added that “during uncertain times, Washingtonians know the D.C. police department is here.” The mayor’s staff culled more than 100 applicants before settling on a final dozen, then narrowing it to four who each met several times with Bowser.
D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), who has supported Newsham, said, “I don’t think he’ll have difficulties” getting confirmed.
Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, which advises police agencies on best practices, said Newsham has been on the force “in the bad days and in the good days” and has a deep knowledge of the department.
He noted that Ramsey picked Newsham to oversee a department overhaul after concerns surfaced in the late 1990s over the high number of deadly shootings by officers. Newsham also was instrumental in helping Lanier reduce homicides when she named him chief of investigations. “I’m sensing the mayor did not want dramatic change,” Wexler said. “The message she is sending is she wants to continue in the direction they’re going.”
Newsham takes over at a time when violent crime has generally been on the decline, although a 2015 spike in murders caused concern. Robberies also have been a persistent problem.
“One violent crime is one crime too many, especially when it happens in your neighborhood,” Newsham said after Bowser made his appointment official. Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), chairman of the council’s public safety committee, said he plans to hold three hearings before a committee vote and then a vote by the full council. “I have a lot of respect for Chief Newsham,” he said. “I hold him in high regard.”
But Newsham, whose annual salary will be $253,817 over the course of a five-year contract, could face some challenging questions. He has been criticized for mass arrests of demonstrators in Pershing Park in 2002 that sparked multimillion-dollar lawsuits against the city. Some also question arrests of protesters at last month’s presidential inauguration, alleging violations of civil rights.
Under his leadership, Newsham said, the department would work to maintain a trusting relationship with the community and stand for “unbiased, fair and constitutional policing. Everyone will know it. Not because we say it, but because we do it.” Newsham grew up in Massachusetts, attended North Adams State College (now Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts) and earned a degree in political science from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. While serving with the D.C. police, he earned a law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law in 2000, and he is entitled to practice in Maryland and in the District.
He and his wife live in Southeast Washington, and he has two children in their early to mid-20s from a previous marriage. He described himself as an “unapologetic New England sports fan,” which he joked at the news conference “was easy because it was so difficult to be a Redskins fan.” After a chorus of boos from city staffers and community members, Newsham quickly saved face, saying he would make the Redskins his “NFC” team. The New England Patriots are in the rival AFC.
Fires, bricks mark daylong assault on inaugural festivities
WASHINGTON (AP) — Protesters set fires and hurled bricks in a daylong assault on the city hosting Donald Trump’s inauguration, registering their rage against the new president in a series of clashes that led to more than 200 arrests. Police used pepper spray and stun grenades to prevent the chaos from spilling into Trump’s formal procession and evening balls.
Several spirited demonstrations unfolded peacefully at various security checkpoints near the Capitol as police helped ticket-holders get through to the inaugural ceremony. Signs read, “Resist Trump Climate Justice Now,” ”Let Freedom Ring” and “Free Palestine.”
But about a mile from the National Mall, police gave chase to a group of about 100 protesters who smashed the windows of downtown businesses including a Starbucks, a Bank of America and a McDonald’s as they denounced capitalism and Trump. Police in riot gear used pepper spray from large canisters to help contain the violence, which erupted periodically throughout the day.
“They began to destroy property, throw objects at people, through windows. A large percentage of this small group was armed with crowbars and hammers,” said the city’s interim police chief, Peter Newsham.
Six officers suffered minor injuries, he said.
The confrontation began an hour before Trump took the oath of office and escalated several hours later as the crowd of protesters swelled to more than 1,000, some wearing gas masks and with arms chained together inside PVC pipe. One said the demonstrators were “bringing in the cavalry.”
When some crossed police lines, taunting, “Put the pigs in the ground,” police charged with batons and pepper spray, as well as stun grenades, which are used to shock and disperse crowds. Loud booms echoed through the streets about six blocks from where Trump would soon hold his inaugural parade.
Some protesters picked up bricks and concrete from the sidewalk and hurled them at police lines. Some rolled large, metal trash cans at police.
Later, they set fire to a limousine on the perimeter of the secured zone, sending black smoke billowing into the sky during Trump’s procession.
As night fell, protesters set a bonfire blocks from the White House and frightened well-dressed Trump supporters as they ventured to the new president’s inaugural balls. Police briefly ordered ball goers to remain inside their hotel as they worked to contain advancing protesters.
Police said they charged 217 people with rioting, said Newsham, noting that the group caused “significant damage” along a number of blocks.
Before Inauguration Day, the DisruptJ20 coalition, named after the date of the inauguration, had promised that people participating in its actions in Washington would attempt to shut down the celebrations, risking arrest when necessary.
Trump supporter Brett Ecker said the protesters were frustrating but weren’t going to put a damper on his day.
“They’re just here to stir up trouble,” said the 36-year-old public school teacher. “It upsets me a little bit that people choose to do this, but yet again, it’s one of the things I love about this country.”
At one checkpoint, protesters wore orange jumpsuits with black hoods over their faces to represent prisoners in U.S. detention at Guantanamo Bay. Eleanor Goldfield, who helped organize the DisruptJ20 protest, said protesters wanted to show Trump and his “misguided, misinformed or just plain dangerous” supporters that they won’t be silent.
Black Lives Matter and feminist groups also made their voices heard. Outside the International Spy Museum, protesters in Russian hats ridiculed Trump’s praise of President Vladimir Putin, marching with signs calling Trump “Putin’s Puppet” and “Kremlin employee of the month.”
Friday’s protests spread across the nation and as far abroad as Australia.
In Sydney, thousands rallied in the city’s central Hyde Park. One organizer said hatred, bigotry and racism are not only America’s problems.
In San Francisco, thousands formed a human chain on the Golden Gate Bridge and chanted “Love trumps hate.” In the city’s financial district, a few hundred protesters blocked traffic outside an office building partly owned by Trump.
In Atlanta, protests converged at City Hall and a few hundred people chanted and waved signs protesting Trump, denouncing racism and police brutality and expressing support for immigrants, Muslims and the Black Lives Matter movement.
In Nashville, half a dozen protesters chained themselves to the doors of the Tennessee Capitol. Hundreds also sat in a 10-minute silent protest at a park while Trump took the oath of office. Organizers led a prayer, sang patriotic songs and read the Declaration of Independence aloud.
In the Pacific Northwest, demonstrators in Portland, Oregon, burned U.S. flags and students at Portland State University walked out of classes. Police in Portland used incendiary devices and tear gas to disperse a crowd that at one point numbered in the thousands. About 200 protesters gathered on the Capitol steps in Olympia, Washington, carrying signs that included the messages “Resist Trump” and “Not My Problem.” Olympia police reported about 100 marchers causing some traffic disruptions downtown, and protesters also marched in Seattle.
The demonstrations won’t end when Trump takes up residence in the White House.
A massive Women’s March on Washington is planned for Saturday. Christopher Geldart, the District of Columbia’s homeland security director, has said 1,800 buses have registered to park in the city Saturday, which could mean nearly 100,000 people coming in just by bus.
Associated Press writers contributing to this report were: Steve Peoples, Alan Suderman, Matthew Barakat, Alanna Durkin Richer, Luis Alonso Lugo, Tami Abdollah, Chad Day and Brian Witte in Washington; Kate Brumback in Atlanta; Jonathan Mattise and Erik Schelzig in Nashville; Janie Har and Jocelyn Gecker in San Francisco; and Gillian Flaccus in Portland, Oregon.
Follow Jessica Gresko on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jessicagresk
10 D.C. Police Officers heading to Puerto Rico to assist with hurricane recovery efforts
WASHINGTON – Ten D.C. Officers will travel to Puerto Rico to assist police on the island, which was heavily damaged from Hurricane Maria last week.
The officers will depart for San Juan on Wednesday for a three-day deployment where they will work with Puerto Rico State Police as residents continue to deal with lack of power along with destroyed homes and roads.
Eight of the District officers heading to the Caribbean island are former Puerto Rico State Police officers who joined the Metropolitan Police Department 15 years ago.
We are grateful for the support and dedication of every MPD Officer. And we are immensely proud of the officers who are volunteering their off-duty time for the San Juan mission,” said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. “Here in D.C., we stand ready to work with our federal and state counterparts to help families in Puerto Rico recover and rebuild.”
“We have the opportunity to show the spirit with which MPD officers carry out their work on a day-to-day basis in the District,” said D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham. “I am incredibly proud of these officers and their joint commitment to this deployment.”
The M.P.D.C. and the pride of their City Hockey Team
The 2018 Stanley Cup Champions
THE WASHINGTON CAPITALS !
