The Bloggomist: Why I Love DC
Political Opinion

During one of DC’s biggest snowstorms, an event that was meant for fun could have harmed innocent citizens as a careless off-duty detective decided to take measures into his own hands. Was it worth his career?

As many as five million travelers were affected by this past weekend’s snow storm in the Northeast region. Many residents in Washington, DC experienced cabin fever from being snowed in at home. On Friday evening, a group emerged on the Internet with a proposal to rally DC residents to gather for an impromptu snowball fight.

Photo Source: Matthew Bradley

The group’s mission was to motivate local twenty- to thirty-something-year-olds to depart their houses on Saturday afternoon to participate in a huge snowball fight. By Saturday morning, the group’s message became viral as DC’s Twitter users asked friends and families to meet at the corner of 14th and U Streets in the city’s Northwest borough for the epic battle.  As many as two hundred residents came out for the epic battle.

In the midst of the snowball fight, a few snowballs were throne at a Hummer that drove pass the crowd. A few minutes later, a second Hummer appeared at the intersection and became a prime target of the snowball fight. An off-duty DC Metropolitan Police officer quickly stepped out of his vehicle and waved a gun at the crowd. The crowd reacted by throwing more snowballs and began to shout “Don’t bring a gun to a snowball fight” to anger the veteran detective.

DC’s tech-savvy and social media gurus who were part of the snowball fight took immediate action by posting videos and photos.

Another DC blog posted a video that captured a bystander’s reaction.

“Guns were drawn” at 14th & U Snowball Fight

By Monday morning, one video clip had reached over 100,000 views on YouTube. The media and the local DC blogosphere questioned the off-duty officer’s actions. The officer has been placed on desk duty while an investigation is currently underway. It was all in good fun. Was it necessary to wave a gun at participants of a snowball fight?

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To see more from Allicia, visit: http://evilmonito.com/author/atek/

Published on 23 December 2009 | |