“Dear PoPville,
This perpetrator was accosting dozens of innocent people yesterday at Meridian Hill/Malcolm X Park for more than an hour during the 5 to 6pm timeframe. Councilwoman Nadeau’s office responded to my outreach and is following up with the UOC (911 dispatch).”
Date and Time of Incident
March 19, 2025 05:16 PM
Please provide a detailed description of the incident
I called 911 for the first time at 5:16 pm to report a male perpetrator – across the street from my apartment window – who was threatening passersby with physical harm and using hate slurs as part of the verbal threats
(I.e., “faggot, bitch, nigger”). This was adjacent to Meridian Hill Park on 16th Street NW approximately 60 meters north of W Street NW. About 25 minutes later after no police arrived and the violent threats and disorderly behavior persisted, I called 911 again at 5:44 pm and I walked closer to the perpetrator to provide a more detailed physical description. At this time I observed him drinking a bottle of alcohol. He had yelled threats of violence combined with hate slurs toward at least six people over the previous 40 minutes and, in my assessment was escalating, which I relayed to the 911 operator. Then at 5:56 when still no police arrived, I observed from my window what appeared to be a bladed weapon, so I called 911 again to report he had escalated his verbal threats to now involve what appeared to be a bladed weapon. At this point I began recording with my cell phone. Then at 6:05 pm I witnessed the perpetrator stand up and expose his bare genitals and began masterbating in the park, with his genitals in full display from my window, so my wife called 911. The operator told her that officers had been dispatched. We continued to wait and record videos from our window of the perpetrator until he finally departed the scene at approximately 6:20 pm, shortly after shoving a white male and threatening to physically harm a white female who was walking her dog. No officers ever arrived and it had been more than one hour since our first of four 911 calls. Aside from the verbal threats of physical harm combined with hate slurs directed at victims, I witnessed public alcohol use, brandishing a bladed weapon, and exposing genitals in a sexual manner. We called 911 four times over the course of 54 minutes and no police officers ever came. I will be escalating this to my council member (Nadeau) and I will be informing contacts at the White House and local media considering the ongoing public debate over Home Rule. I paid more than $59,000 in local DC taxes last year and I find this to be absolutely mortifying that no police officers came to protect my community despite repeated pleas for help. The 911 operator said on the phone to me: “you’re the only call about this incident,” but what this fails to account for is that this will likely be my last time calling 911. At what point will you stop and think that maybe the man who was shoved or the woman who was verbally threatened or the passing cars who observed the exposed genitals might not have wasted their time or energy to call 911 if they knew that no police officers would come to the rescue anyway.”