WASHINGTON — Dozens of felony gun and drug possession cases from the 7th district of D.C. are expected to be dismissed as a result of an ongoing internal investigation into officers on a special crime squad.
The U.S. Attorney's office wouldn't provide exact number of impacted cases but said in a statement:
"When our Office learned of the 7D Crime Suppression Team investigation, we began a case-specific assessment of impacted pending cases. In determining how to proceed with each case, we take a number of factors into consideration, including burden of proof, witness availability, likelihood of success on the merits at trial, and the applicable law. Our review is ongoing, but at this point we expect to dismiss dozens of gun and drug possession cases."
The case dismissal, first reported by the Washington Post, stems from a D.C. internal affairs investigation announced in late September.
While examining officer body camera footage on an unrelated citizen complaint they found what Police Chief Robert Contee described at the time as discrepancies between body footage and officer statements, including officers accused of stopping people, taking illegal guns and not arresting them.
"The report that they wrote is not consistent with what we see in the video," Contee said during a press conference announcing the internal review. "I can't even speculate as to why that is. You know, that's not the way that we train. It's not the way that I've been trained. And it's not what we expect of our members."
DC Police tell us the officers involved currently remain on desk duty or administrative leave.
MPD Deputy Director of Communications Paris Lewbel sent a statement to WUSA9 regarding the investigation Tuesday evening:
"MPD’s Internal Affairs Division continues to actively investigate the circumstances and conduct of the 7D Crime Suppression Team. When MPD first learned of evidence of misconduct involving the officers in late September, we notified our partners at the US Attorney’s Office. The officers were immediately placed on administrative leave or non-contact status. On the same day, Chief Contee also transparently informed our community about the internal investigation. When we first informed the US Attorney’s Office, they advised MPD that they would be completing a case-specific review of any cases involving the officers to ensure they could prosecute each case. We cannot comment on their review process of cases. We continue to work with the US Attorney’s Office on this internal investigation. As a matter of practice, MPD does not discuss specific elements of on-going investigations."
The chairman of the D.C. Police Union Gregg Pemberton in a statement claims prosecutors have reviewed all body-worn footage and had elected to bring charges in some cases. In a statement, the union "continues to assert that these officers were properly following policy and directives issued by command staff and we are confident that all of these officers will be exonerated."
He called the cases being dismissed "an affront to the responsible and positive work these officers have engaged in.
"This will undoubtedly cause more criminals to be released into the community and probably result in more violence," Pemberton said.
DC Police said the investigation is ongoing, and they continue to work with their investigative partners to learn more concrete information.