WASHINGTON — A United States Park Police Officer will not face charges for shooting and killing a 17-year-old in 2023 due to "insufficient evidence."
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the shooting happened on March 18, 2023, and left 17-year-old Dalaneo Martin dead.
That night, officials say Metropolitan Police Officers were in the 3400 block of Baker Street, Northeast, to investigate a suspicious vehicle parked there. United States Park Police officers arrived to help and found Martin sleeping in the driver's seat. It was later determined that the license plate belonged to a different car and that its ignition had been punched.
The officers planned to remove Martin from the vehicle, however, while trying to move him, he woke up and began to fight back. Martin then put the car in drive and sped away, with the USPP officer in the backseat.
As Martin drove down the road, the USPP officer reportedly told him to stop.
"Stop man, just let me out!," the officer said, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of D.C. "Let me out! Stop or I’ll shoot.”
Martin reportedly did not stop, and the unnamed USPP officer shot five rounds at the 17-year-old, hitting him.
Martin continued to drive down 36th Street, before crossing over a sidewalk, up an embankment, and crashing into a house. The 17-year-old died at the scene of the crash.
Body-worn camera footage of the shooting was released less than a month later, on April 4, 2023.
The shooting was investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Metropolitan Police Department’s (MPD) Internal Affair’s Division. On Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. declared the officer would not face charges.
"After a careful, thorough, and independent review of the evidence, federal prosecutors have found insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the United State Park Police Officer is criminally liable for Mr. Martin’s death," the U.S. Attorney’s Office of D.C. said in a press release.