DC Cop brings gun to snowball fight.

[Bob Hubbard]

And the guy who threw the snowball at the gun waver?
Book him on an idiocy charge. Not because the hit a cop....because he threw a snowball at a guy waving a gun. You can probably add a few other real charges there, but lets be honest, being a convicted idiot just sounds better.
The couple of verbally abusive idiots in the mix also are at fault.

The biggest fault IMO lies with the plain clothes, who should have just kept driving after his vehicle was hit. Hey, that's what I'm always told, keep driving, don't stop. He is the one who by getting out of his car, drawing his gun and threatening the crowd caused the mess. Could have drove on a bit, radioed in and let the uniforms handle it while then doubling back to help them ID anyone necessary.

I also see the plain clothes getting physical, pushing, shoving, and verbally abusive once the uniform arrives. The uniforms looks to be trying to diffuse the situation which could have turned into a riot. Every uniformed cop I saw looked to be behaving professionally and deescalated a tense situation. That's important to note. Despite staring down the barrels of over 200 snowballs they looked to have kept their weapons holstered.

 

[The Last Legionary]

Maybe he just wanted to play and had those new Ice Bullets? You know, rubber bullets, wooden bullets, now new Ice Bullets, from Coors?

 

[Bob Hubbard]

I suspect if it was Coors being tossed around things would have been less controversial. After all, in DC you settle things over beer.

 

[oldnewbie]

One more thing to add to my list of why I live in Florida.....

No Cop gun waving snowball fights........

(By the way... what's a snowball..? ):rofl:

 

[jks9199]

It's a snowball as you say, among friends, but it is intrusive, over the line, and against the law in some cases when used toward strangers. We look at this situation and say we have all had snowball fights as kids. Well when I was a kid it was fun to have, one but it was between us.

And when someone you didn't know pelted you -- or someone you did know, but who picked a bad moment -- you got pissed. Especially if the "snowball" was actually a ball of hard ice...

It's one thing if everyone is playing. It's another if you involve someone who's not playing and doesn't want to play.

I'm not saying the detective was right in drawing his gun. I think there's a lot of explaining he needs to do. There is room to justify it... but he has to make that explanation. And, given the circumstances, some of that explanation will have to become public.

 

[Gordon Nore]

I felt bad for the uniformed cop shown on camera in the news report, carrying his gun. I'm sure some viewers thought he was the one the reporters were talking about.

The anchor had the reporter clarify that he was not the one who initially pulled a weapon but merely that he went to the scene, having been told that someone was brandishing a gun. Under those circumstances, it made sense for him to have his weapon out. Notice how quickly he holsters it once he's spoken to people at the scene.

 

[xJOHNx]

Tell ya what. Ill paste you in the face with one out of the blue..as a complete stranger..and we will see what you think of it then.

I'll shrug it off. My ego isn't big enough to start a verbal/non-verbal fight over a snowball. I might get pissed because it hit me in the face when I wasn't expecting it, but using force/curse words to make my point? Not likely.

I would expect the same from policemen. Who should have a thicker skin than me.

As for the rest, I follow bob's last two posts.

p.s. It snows here too, I got hit by snowballs all day by kids. And yesterday, and the day before.

p.s.2: There was a big snow fight here on thursday, cops got hit... they just started throwing back.

 

[KELLYG]

Damn it was just kids having a snow ball fight. I spirals soo out of control that guns are drawn?? Where did common since go this whole deal is ridiculous!

 

[Archangel M]

My opinion is in line with JKS. I don't think the situation called for drawing a weapon.

However, Im not letting the participants off of the hook. The place for a snowball fight is in a park or a lot somewhere, not at a corner of a major metropolitan city. I call that disorderly conduct". It interferes with traffic, has the potential to involve people who will look at getting struck as an offense and has the potential of damaging property. I would have dispersed them.

 

[blindsage]

My opinion is in line with JKS. I don't think the situation called for drawing a weapon.

However, Im not letting the participants off of the hook. The place for a snowball fight is in a park or a lot somewhere, not at a corner of a major metropolitan city. I call that disorderly conduct". It interferes with traffic, has the potential to involve people who will look at getting struck as an offense and has the potential of damaging property. I would have dispersed them.

Plain clothed, with your gun drawn and without your badge out?

 

[Archangel M]

Plain clothed, with your gun drawn and without your badge out?

Did I say that?

 

[Carol]

Damn it was just kids having a snow ball fight. I spirals soo out of control that guns are drawn?? Where did common since go this whole deal is ridiculous!

By all accounts it was not just kids having a snowball fight. It was either adults, or people as large as adults, in a fight organized via facebook and twitter, involved over 200 people, on a busy intersection in one of the most violent cities in America.

I'm not saying the detective did the right thing by drawing his sidearm...but the threat to public safety is not difficult to understand.

 

[Big Don]

Washington Post EXCERPT:
Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier Monday issued a statement to the community saying she watched the footage and it is "obvious" that the detective pulled his weapon in response to thrown snowballs hitting his Hummer.

“Let me be very clear in stating that I believe the actions of the officer were totally inappropriate!

 

[Carol]

Washington Post EXCERPT:
Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier Monday issued a statement to the community saying she watched the footage and it is "obvious" that the detective pulled his weapon in response to thrown snowballs hitting his Hummer.

Good. Maybe she can tell that to her Assistant Chief who claims he never drew his gun.

 

[Archangel M]

By all accounts it was not just kids having a snowball fight. It was either adults, or people as large as adults, in a fight organized via facebook and twitter, involved over 200 people, on a busy intersection in one of the most violent cities in America.

I'm not saying the detective did the right thing by drawing his sidearm...but the threat to public safety is not difficult to understand.

Thats all I'm sayin. :asian:

 

[Archangel M]

Good. Maybe she can tell that to her Assistant Chief who claims he never drew his gun.

I think he deserves more punishment for the lie than he does for the act. Personally.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

"Let me be very clear in stating that I believe the actions of the officer were totally inappropriate!" Lanier said in a statement. "In no way should he have handled the situation in this manner."Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier said she had watched video clips from the weekend confrontation and has no doubt that the off-duty officer pulled his gun after snowballs hit his personal vehicle during Saturday's record snowfall.
...
"It is very obvious to me that the officer pulled his service weapon in response to the snowballs hitting his vehicle. I have no doubt about this, nor has the officer denied the accusations," said Lanier.
...
Assistant Police Chief Peter Newsham told reporters Monday that the detective has been placed on desk duty and his badge and weapon have been withdrawn.
...

There could be a recommendation to discipline the detective, which could range from a reprimand to removal, he said.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,580757,00.html


Let me say that while I hope he receives some action, no one was hurt and I don't think he should lose his job over this. The article says he's a 25 yr vet with a good track record. DC shouldn't lose an otherwise good cop over a minor issue, especially if they use it as a learning experience.



I also hope that -all- the footage is being reviewed and any of the instigators also dealt with if possible.

 

[Carol]

I think he deserves more punishment for the lie than he does for the act. Personally.

They are two different officers.

There's the Detective that drew the gun, then the Assistant Chief that's head of Investigative Services saying the detective never drew the gun, and was instead carrying a cell phone. Uh huh.

The detective will likely get disciplined in some way, yet I suspect the Assistant Chief will see no disciplinary action out of this, which does not sit well with me at all.

Although, I may have a new code word. "I'm going to the range, want to get your...cell phones...and come with me?" :lol:

 

[5-0 Kenpo]

So let me get this straight...

Cop driving through the neighborhood in a city known for its violence sees about 200 people in the street throwing snowballs at each other (what looks to be one factions vs. another) as well as some pushing and shoving.

Rather then driving blithely through, he stops, maybe at what he thinks is a major fight, with his gun drawn, stands next to his vehicle (rather calmly I think), gets on his police radio (ostensibly to call for assistance). Oh, and after he gets hit with several snowballs, still does not physically confront the crowd, as an "enraged" (to quote a report on foxnews.com) person might.

I'm sorry, what is the problem here...???

I think some major assumptions are being made here:

1. The cop knew this was merely a snowball fight, and not a major fight or a brewing fight.

2. The cop only stopped because he was upset that a snowball hit his vehicle, otherwise he would have continued driving.

3. That snowballs even hit his car. Nothing in the video that I have seen, nor any statement made by the officer, shows that.

Now, do I know that this was this detective's reason for doing what he did? Nope. But how do you know why he did it either? Considering that he is a 25 year law enforcement veteran who has gone through an extensive background check at some point in his career, I will, from my limited perspective, give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

[seasoned]

Fun in the snow, is a couple of kids tossing snowballs back and forth. Heck, my wife and I did it with our kids as they were growing up. I don't ever remember getting into a snowball fight with any neighbors, although at times I felt like it.

I definitely don't remember nailing any strangers as they passed my house, or cars for that matter. But lets have common sense prevail, 200 people in a snowball fight has the potential to get way out of hand very, very fast. The fact that it was a police officer who's car got pelted, and in turn himself as he exited his car is a plus, because he was able to handle the situation, then and there. If it would have been anybody else that got out of their car, after getting pelted, and then got pelted themselves, could have been a recipe for disaster. The fact that the cop got hit as he got out of his car proves that this friendly little snowball, frolic in the snow, could have turned into a mob action very fast. Remember 2's fun, 200, a mob.