D.C. Policeman Accused of Pulling Gun to Quell Snowball Fight

"The Post says 25-year-old Yousef Ali, a media and technology geek, spent 11 hours using Twitter and other social media to spread the word."

I like this.

Hmmmmm....the "anti-war protest" had been advertised. This is not a case of a crowd pelting police officers with snow or ice balls. The hummer would certainly attract the attention of the "anti-war" crowd. Pelting cars with snowballs is not uncommon in areas that get snow. He was safe enough in his vehicle and could have driven off. Instead he charged, armed into a crowd. He never identified himself. He didn’t call it in. He didn’t wait for on duty officers to arrive. . He did everything wrong. But what is really in question is his judgment, by entering that crowd he placed himself and the public in danger. He exercised very poor judgment and judgment is a key to officers and their interaction with the public, whether on duty or off. And THAT is the real issue here.

To get away from the back and forth about should an off duty cop in civvies jump out of his personal Hummer with gun-in-hand to confront a bunch of folks enjoying a snowball fight and turn it instead to a simple question that has been bothering me a bit.

When I was initially trained in weapons carry and use, and in every subsequent refresher, I was always told to keep my finger OUT of the trigger guard until I was firing was imminent.

In this image of this detective trudging across a slippery, snowy street, with snow falling, to confront people with snowballs, it looks to me as though the trigger finger is very definitely inside the trigger guard, on the trigger: http://tijil.org/snowball_fight_gun.jpg

Leaving aside whether or not he should even have his weapon out, is this the proper way to carry the weapon, aimed down, but in the direction of a large crowd, finger on the trigger, on a slippery, uneven surface?

Has weapons training and safety really changed that much since I was trained? Is "finger on the trigger" the new legit way to carry a weapon?

(He was not "ready to fire" as he was not even looking toward anyone, so it is highly doubtful he was "in fear of his life or safety" as he wasn't even keeping an eye on any of the people in front of him.)

Anyone out there a trainer?

CO11718: Bla, Bla, Bla, people. Let the investigation take its toll. Merry Christmas to all. Oh, almost forgot, NO SNOWBALL FIGHTING ITS A FELONY!

NO... not until a cop is HIT w/a SNOWBALL COVERED ROCK or something else encased in snow... then what!?

One officer, one investigation... but it needs to be treated in proper context and its HARD to do once the Back Office Mags have to APPEASE the Media and local politicians...

I say Investigate MR ALI !!! And his connection !

Unruly mobs in Europe will soon hit the streets of the USA and what SEEMS REACEFUL at first goes BAD in a split second

Oh it's just an innocent fluffy soft snowball, never mind the ice chucnks that can get into one and knock you unconcious or kill you. Nothing wrong with a snowball fight, as long as everybody is down for it, if not that assault with a dangerous weapon. Had it been 16-18 year old kids doing it, the media would have spun it to say "Police officer stops vandals from destroying property."

Give the guy a talking to and maybe a letter in his file then let it go. This etective works in what might be the murder capital of this country. I don't blame him for clearing leather,he didn't know what was going on,all he knew was a bunch of idiots were throwing things at traffic. No one has said or shown he pointed his weapon at any one of these punks. Let it go!!

It would seem to me that the person placiing the post for this snowball fight should be held responsible. The Officer may have conducted himself differently, however we all respond differently to the situation at hand.

Thank goodness getting hit by a snowball can't injure you. Oh wait, it can! Let the cop go back to work, he was just protecting his property and then himself.