ROZ PLATTER
WTTG
Reprinted with Permission
WASHINGTON – A veteran D.C. police officer is under investigation. Witnesses say he pulled his gun out after someone hit his vehicle with snowballs.
It happened at the intersection of 14th and U Streets on Saturday afternoon.
A group of twenty-somethings was pelting each other with snowballs.
An amateur photographer captured still pictures of what happened. Several videos are also posted on YouTube. The officer can be seen holding a gun.
Witnesses tell FOX 5 someone called 9-1-1 after they saw the driver pull out a gun. It was only after a uniformed officer arrived that they discovered the driver was an off-duty police officer.
At one point on the videos the man identifies himself as Detective Baylor. When someone in the crowd asked if he pulled a gun during the snow fight he replied he did because he was hit with snowballs.
D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty told FOX 5 the officer involved is on "non-contact" status while internal affairs investigates.
The snowball fight was organized on Twitter, and the incident was widely discussed on the social networking site.