Police release statement on viral video appearing to show officers spraying women at La Plata car wash
LA PLATA, Md. - The La Plata Police Department is investigating whether their officers were involved in a social media video that appears to show two women getting sprayed down at a Charles County car wash.
The women are seen posing both on the hood of the vehicle and around it.
The investigation arrives after a short video was posted to Facebook that appears to show a behind-the-scenes account.
At least one officer can be seen holding a hose in their hand as two women sit propped up on the hood of a pick-up truck.
The incident took place at the J. L. Sprague Car Wash off of South Crain Highway in La Plata, Maryland.
In the video, you also hear the person filming repeat the words, "Look at the tax dollars of La Plata, Maryland at its best."
The person who later posted the video to Facebook, Tyronne Shorter, declined to interview with FOX 5 on camera.
He did speak about the video over the phone.
Shorter claimed to have actually witnessed an officer spray the two ladies, prompting him to film on his cell phone.
He told FOX 5 that he had just left a nearby laundromat around 11 p.m. on Sunday night when he noticed an unusual number of car lights at the car wash and decided to check out the area.
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The video has garnered a lot of attention and a long list of comments on Facebook.
There's a comment that includes the full video from the car wash, which shows the two ladies dancing, and moving around a soapy pick-up truck.
The video plays over an Ellie Goulding song and includes the hashtag: #carwashchallenge.
What isn't visible is who is actually filming and spraying the two women.
"I really don’t know, maybe they were investigating what the girls were doing on the car. I don’t know," said one man at the car wash on Tuesday.
"Just do better. Like, do things that are actually going to, you know, benefit this town. Not make us look insane," said a mother at the car wash with her daughters.
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On July 6, the La Plata Police Chief sent FOX 5 the following statement about the investigation into the incident:
"Based on our ongoing investigation of the car wash incident involving our officers and two adult females last week, the first officer to arrive responded to the area at the request of one of the females known to him. He later requested assistance to help the women gain access to keys locked inside their vehicle while they were preparing to produce social media video content. An officer did use one of the women's phones, at her request, to record imagery at the car wash. None of the images captured by the officer were used in the video produced for social media as the officers had left the carwash prior to the production. In this era of social media, our department will continue to update its protocols about employees assisting the public with taking photos or videos as warranted."
FOX 5 also tried to reach out to one of the two women in the social media video but did not hear back.
A source with knowledge of the investigation told FOX 5 that was not the first group of women to visit the car wash that day. Others may have also engaged in the same kind of activity.
We’re told this apparently has to do with a car wash TikTok challenge.