More photos.
Embedded video of the incident: Baylor yelling at the crowd: "You're going to jail. You're going to jail..."
Eyewitness reports: Lacy MacAuley | cookietime420 | Jason.
Organizing snowball fights, huh? So I guess Twitter does have some useful value after all.My local (college town) equivalent event was organized via Facebook. Some new media grad student could probably get a paper out of the difference between Twitter-organized snowball-wielding flash mobs and Facebook-organized snowball-wielding flash mobs.
"...someone from the crowd called to report a man with a gun.posted by ericb at 8:16 AM on December 20, 2009
'I think what probably happens is somebody probably saw his gun and called the police,' [Assistant Chief Pete] Newsham said.
A the patrol officer who responded to the call approached with his gun drawn, Newsham said, because he did not know the man with a gun was a D.C. detective. When he realized that, he quickly holstered his own weapon, Newsham said.
[Lacy] MacAuley and others confronted the detective. As the detective walked away, MacAuley said, someone hit him with another snowball, prompting the officer to charge in the crowd and briefly detain the man he thought was the culprit.'"
"The video is making the rounds on the Internet and national TV stations."posted by ericb at 8:19 AM on December 20, 2009
"Early on, MPD officers tolerated the chaos. Around 150 snowballers lined up on the east and west sides of 14th Street NW just north of U Street, idling politely as passing cars sludged through the intersection before rushing out to meet one another on the icy field of combat"*posted by ericb at 8:34 AM on December 20, 2009
"From what I could see, when the rare vehicle made it through the intersection, snowball fire died down or it was purposefully arced up over the cars and thrust to the other side of the street....At one point some of them stopped the action to help a police car trying to make a u-turn....Now with every event, there are some tone-deaf participants and maybe the people who inadvertently helped change the course of the afternoon were one or the other: At some point a small group of people, mostly on the West side of the street, mostly on the south end of that stretch of people, decided to throw a few snowballs at a maroon Hummer stopped at the intersection.*
2005: "1,026 employees, about 36 percent of the force, made $100,000 or more."In nearby Qunicy, MA
2006: "...the average uniformed police officer made $113,617."
2008: "1,430 Boston cops earned more than $100,000."
"Nearly two-thirds of Quincy’s police officers earned at least $100,000 last year [2008]."So, a Hummer is not out of the question for some urban police officers.
Dear D.C. police officer who pulled a gun because someone hit your Hummer with a snowball,
You are totally awesome. Someone tosses a bit of snow, which accidentally strikes your
ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIER, so you get out of your ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIER onto a slippery
road and point a gun willy-nilly at a crowd of people in the middle of a blizzard.
Keep up the good work.
Your biggest fan,
HAMBURGER
P.S. Why the fuck were you driving during a fucking blizzard anyway? What are you, an idiot?“The city's police chief slammed a veteran detective Monday for pulling a gun during a mass snowball fight that had been advertised on Twitter.No word yet if Chief Lanier is going to charge the snowballers for "assaulting a police officer...a felony."
Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier said she watched video clips from the confrontation and has no doubt the off-duty detective pulled his gun after snowballs hit his personal car during Saturday's record snowfall.
‘Let me be very clear in stating that I believe the actions of the officer were totally inappropriate!’ Lanier said in a statement after the videos made the rounds on YouTube. ‘In no way should he have handled the situation in this manner.’
Lanier said the detective, whom she did not identify, did not deny the accusations. He is on desk duty until an investigation is complete.
Hundreds of people gathered for the snowball fight on a major street after organizers used social networks such as Twitter to advertise it.
One video posted on YouTube showed a man holding what appears to be a gun in the snowy street. Another video shows the same man telling people he is ‘Detective Baylor’ and he pulled his gun because he was hit by snowballs.
At one point, the crowd begins to chant: ‘Don't bring a gun to a snowball fight!’
Assistant Police Chief Peter Newsham told reporters Monday that the detective's badge and weapon have been withdrawn. He said the detective has more than 25 years of experience and a good reputation.
Newsham said the internal affairs division wants to complete its investigation as quickly as possible.
‘We have to put the whole incident into context,’ he said.
There could be a recommendation to discipline the detective, which could range from a reprimand to removal, he said.
Police have at least two videos of the incident, and Newsham said there could be more as the footage shows other people with cell phones and cameras. Police are working to obtain any additional material and will continue to speak to witnesses. He asked people to contact police if they have more footage.
There were no arrests, he said.
The videos also show a uniformed police officer holding his gun by his side before holstering it. Police said in a statement Sunday that he was responding to a call about an armed man, acted appropriately and did not point his weapon at anyone.
Newsham praised the work of other officers who arrived at the scene and de-escalated the situation.
He called the incident ‘very disappointing.’
‘It does bring a negative light’ on the department, he said, and detracts from the work of hundreds of officers who helped people in the snow and directed traffic.”
“Police said initially that the detective had not flashed his weapon. On Sunday, the officer was placed on desk duty after Twitter, blogs and YouTube appeared to show otherwise.posted by ericb at 3:01 PM on December 21, 2009 [1 favorite]
If the final investigation shows the officer pulled his weapon after being pelted with snowballs, D.C. Assistant Chief Pete Newsham, head of the investigative services bureau, said that ‘would not be a situation in which a member [of the force] would be justified.’
‘We have to see what the entire circumstance was,’ Newsham said Sunday. ‘But just a snowball fight, not in my mind. That doesn't seem a situation where we would pull out a service weapon.’
The snowball fight was the brainchild of Yousef Ali, a 25-year-old former Apple Genius and aspiring ‘rock star’ who is forging a career in media and technology. In an interview Sunday, Ali said, he was inspired to start the snowball fight by a friend's Facebook status and used a dormant personal blog, http://www.futuremagining.com/?p=3, and extensive Twitter promotion to expand the participant list.
With Ali's nonstop efforts, the event was making the cyber rounds. Even the D.C. Department of Transportation seemed to embrace it, Tweeting on Saturday soon after the fight began: ‘SNOW UPDATE as advertised, there is a large snowball battle at 14th and U. Keep it safe.’”
"The head of the Washington, D.C., police union is decrying the police chief's public criticism of a detective for pulling a gun during a snowball fight.posted by ericb at 2:47 PM on December 22, 2009
...D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier on Monday called the officer's actions 'totally inappropriate.'
Union chief Kristopher Baumann said Tuesday it's questionable whether Detective Michael Baylor will get a fair and unbiased investigation by the department. He said Lanier should wait for the investigation to close before passing judgment."
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posted by ericb at 6:27 AM on December 20, 2009