A Washington, D.C., police detective has been put on desk duty after pulling out his gun during a snowball fight Saturday.
The off-duty detective, whose name has not been released, was driving past a snowball fight in the city when his Hummer was hit by snowballs. He allegedly stopped the car, got out, and took out his gun. He also pulled out a walkie-talkie and called for backup.
Most of the incident was caught on video and quickly posted to YouTube.
D.C. police initially denied that one of their officers pulled a gun. But, after the video spread online, the department released a statement saying video and photos from the scene “seem to support the allegation that the off-duty member did pull a gun.”
The police are conducting an investigation. A spokesman told the Washington Post that if the detective really did pull out his firearm in response to snowballs, “That doesn’t seem a situation where we would pull out a service weapon.” But, he added, “We have to see what the entire circumstance was.”
Late update: The chief of police, Cathy Lanier, said today that the actions of the detective were “totally inappropriate.”
“In no way should he have handled the situation in this manner,” Lanier said in a statement.
