WASHINGTON – An elected official in Washington, DC said he was not trying to encourage violence against DC Police Officers when he sent a controversial tweet in the wake of another viral cell phone confrontation with officers.
“My intent with the tweet was very clear,” said ANC Commissioner Anthony Lorenzo Green. “It’s not a threat. This a reality. People are tired, and I’m concerned about officers who may get hurt.”
Green tweeted the video with a message that included “I’m telling you right now, DC. This will be a HOT summer and one of your beloved DC Police officers will get hurt.”
In an exclusive interview with WUSA 9 investigative reporter Eric Flack, Green said his words were meant as a warning for police, not a threat.
“I’m not going to sing kumbaya, I’m not going to create a fuzzy fantasy or fairytale,” Green said. “I’m going to be real and tell it to you the way it needs to be heard. It’s going to be a hot summer, and there are going to be beat police officers who unfortunately will get hurt if they continue to do what we saw in that video and many other videos we’ve been seeing over the last year.”
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Response from the DC Police Union was swift, with Chairman Stephen Bigelow Jr. suggesting Green should resign or be removed if he could not work with the District's police force.
"This veiled threat, mocking fallen officers and made at a time when homicides are spiking, could not be more reckless," Bigelow said in a statement. "Those of us responsible for making our communities safer bear a tremendous burden, and our success depends on working together."
The statement concluded, "If Commissioner Green is unwilling or unable to do this, he should either step down or be removed from his position."
Green said tensions between DC Police and young African American men and women was reaching a breaking point, much like it did in the summer of 2018 when protests over the stop and frisk of a group of men on Sheriff Road in Northeast led to an even uglier scene the following night in Deanwood.
“So, we made it our business in Deanwood to pull people together, so we wouldn’t have incidents where people were coming down to (MPD Police District) 6D to set cars on fire. Because that was the next step.”
Green believes that’s where things are headed again after the latest video from Southeast, in which a shouting altercation between a few people and a DC police officer escalates into a physical confrontation.
Below is a video of the incident obtained by WUSA9.
Police charged three people, including a woman, with assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, and threats to do bodily harm.
The police report on the incident only said the crowd became hostile, and that is what led to the arrests.
Witnesses at the scene claimed the officers didn’t like the fact they were being recorded on cell phone video.
“I’ve been telling folks everywhere I go pull out your phones, here’s a card to know your rights, record every single interaction,” Green said.
Green added the more videos like that one surfacing, the more dangerous the situation becomes for people on both sides.
“So, if they don’t take my warning seriously, it’s on them,” Green said. “I’m doing everything I can. To make sure that we don’t have an explosion this summer of people turning this into Ferguson and taking it straight to the police officers.”
He said his words on Twitter are meant to stop more violence, not encourage it.
“People comment on my posts and say, 'You know what? I’m tired of being like Martin. I want to be like Malcom,'" he said.
On social media, several people have tweeted their support for police officers after Green's tweet.
"We have politicians who are sending out threats to police and then wonder why people are getting more and more violent with police and in turn police are forced to use more force," @OverheardOnDuty tweeted. "This guy needs to go."
Tuesday, an ACLU report found the Metropolitan Police officers arrest African Americans at 10 times the rate of white people.