Video showing 'altercation' with DC police in southeast being investigated, Chief Contee says

WASHINGTON - D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee said an incident caught on video that's circulating on social media and that appears to show police in the District involved in a takedown Thursday night while on a call for a shooting in the southeast is under investigation.

In the video, several officers and at least two subjects can be seen involved in a chaotic incident which happened near Stanton Road and Mississippi Avenue.

At one point in the video an officer appears to push one of the subjects backwards over a metal fence. In the video, that subject and another person appear to both be taken down to the ground by officers.

In an interview with FOX 5 Friday morning, Contee said he has viewed the video and has spoken with a councilman from that area. He said police responded to the area to investigate a report of a shooting. After officers responded, Contee said an "altercation" occurred between them and people who were standing in the area.

Contee said MPD internal affairs and officials are investigating the situation and are in the process of pulling body-worn video of the incident.

"We're pulling all the body-worn camera just to have a better understanding of what actually led up it. The video kind of starts after I think whatever the altercation was, or whatever the discussion was before that – the video starts after that," he said. "So we want to really just have a whole picture before we go any further with that and just kind of make sure that we were following MPD policies and doing things that we need to do to keep communities safe."

D.C. Fire and EMS said they responded to the address for a call around 10 p.m. Thursday for a person reporting abdominal and back pain but no transports were made.

Contee also addressed the brutal attack of a woman on a D.C. Metrobus and said police are working with Metro Transit Police investigators and "hope to bring that matter to closure sooner rather than later."

D.C. Police released the following statement to FOX 5 regarding the incident:

"The Metropolitan Police Department is aware of a video on social media that shows a use of force incident on Thursday evening in the 3400 block of Stanton Road SE. We became aware of the incident when our officers reported the use of force from the scene and we were contacted by multiple community members. The investigation into the totality of the incident is currently underway.

Preliminarily, at approximately 9:30 p.m., officers responded to the 3400 block of Stanton Road SE for sounds of gunshots. While they were canvasing the area, they located an unoccupied vehicle, later confirmed stolen, with the motor running and a visible shell casing inside. At that time, a group of subjects approached the officers while they were searching the vehicle. A male in the group threatened "to smack" a female police officer. In response, an officer pushed the male against a fence and took him into custody.

Preliminary additional review of BWC footage shows that while the man was being taken into custody, another subject began assaulting and strangling officers. The subject was taken to the ground and taken into custody.

Both individuals were transported to an area hospital for medical evaluation and have since been released back to MPD custody and will be presented in court today.

The investigation remains ongoing, and the use of force incident is under review by MPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau."