WASHINGTON — A D.C. police officer who shot and injured a man in Southeast D.C. is under investigation.
The shooting happened Friday just before 10 a.m. and police were called out to report an assault near the intersection of Good Hope Road and 13th Street Southeast D.C., according to DC Police Chief Robert Contee.
Investigators also revealed in a news release Sunday that the woman and the suspect were involved in an argument, police said. The suspected man hit the victim with a pipe and threatened her. The woman who was hit by the pipe suffered from non-life-threatening injuries.
Contee said the officer was canvassing the area on foot after the metal box assault when he saw a man “abruptly” get into the passenger side of a parked Jeep. The officer believed he saw the man who may have been involved in the argument, according to a press release.
The officers approached the man inside the Jeep and asked him numerous times to get out of the vehicle, Contee said.
Contee reviewed camera footage of the incident and said the video showed the man kept turning sideways in the passenger seat and that “his hands go up” when the officer commanded him to get out of the car.
There was a struggle between the man and the officer told the man to stop reaching, Contee said. The man refused and reached into his waistband, police said.
“The officer is asking the person to get out of the car, saying this is just a stop. At some point during the course of the interaction, when the officer’s saying ‘stop reaching, stop reaching,’ a shot is fired and the person is struck.”
The man was taken to a local hospital for treatment of his injuries. Contee could not say where the man was shot, or the severity of his injuries, but did say the man was conscious and breathing when he was taken to the hospital.
As the officer was taking the person out of the car, he was placed in handcuffs and removed from the car. Officers found a large quantity of suspected cocaine on the man who was shot said.
The woman behind the wheel of the Jeep drove off after the man was shot, Contee said. During the news conference, Contee urged the unidentifiable woman to come forward and said police need talk to her to understand everything that occurred during the time of the shooting.
Steven Shaw, 38, of Northeast D.C., and Wallace Lewis, 59, of Southeast were arrested Friday, according to the release. Shaw was charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine.
Wallace Lewis, 59 was charged with assault with significant bodily injury and threats to do bodily harm in connection to the assault.
The unidentified officer who shot Shaw has been placed on administrative leave pursuant to Metropolitan Police Department policy.
The body-worn camera footage from this incident is currently being under review.