Police body-worn camera video from the barricade situation in which three D.C. police officers were shot will not be released for the public to see at the suspect’s request.
While D.C. law requires the police department to release bodycam video from any use of force incident, the subject of the use of force — Stephen Rattigan, in this case — is allowed to block its release.
In the past, the mayor could override that decision in the public’s interest, but a change to the law made by the D.C. Council removed that authority from the mayor. Mayor Muriel Bowser said she believes the mayor should have that authority and she’s having her attorneys look at the law.
Police arrested Rattigan, 48, after a 13-hour standoff that began when he opened fire on officers at his home in the 5000 block of Hanna Place SE the morning of Feb. 14, police said. The officers were trying to serve him a warrant on animal cruelty charges, and he was facing eviction after his dogs menaced a 2-year-old, according to his landlord's account in court documents.
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One officer was shot in the hand, another was shot in the foot or leg and a third was struck twice, but his ballistic gear stopped the bullets, authorities said.
The wounded officers were released from the hospital the next day as a crowd applauded them.
Rattigan’s landlord was trying to evict him for failing to remove dogs from his home, court documents show. Twenty adult dogs and 11 puppies were taken from the home after Rattigan was arrested. Three Humane Rescue Alliance vans were used to transport them.
Suspect accused of punching dog in the head
Police initially went to Rattigan’s home with a warrant to arrest him as a suspect in an animal cruelty case after an officer investigated a neighbor’s complaint in January.
When the officer went to the home on Hanna Place, it smelled of urine and feces, the officer wrote in court documents.
The concerned neighbor showed the officer a video that led to the animal abuse charge. Police said the video shows the suspect repeatedly punch a dog in the head.
In court documents, the officer said the video shows two of the dogs approaching a child “in an excited and friendly manner,” and an adult calmly picking up the child.
The suspect “then enters the picture… and approaches one of the dogs, grabbing it and pulling it away from [the adult] and child. The dog stays, cowering from [the suspect]. [The suspect] then proceeded to punch the dog in the face six times, causing the dog to yelp each time,” the officer wrote.
What officials say happened before Rattigan shot police
Court documents reveal what police say happened when they tried to serve the warrant. Officers knocked and said who they were, but Rattigan did not come out, officials say. The officers then breached the door but did not enter for fear of being attacked by dogs.
Rattigan then opened fire, police said.
He then called police himself and said he had fired warning shots at someone who was trying to get into his house. If they were there to get his dogs, they would have to kill him, he said.
Rattigan fired additional shots during the standoff because he was agitated as he waited for negotiators to bring him cigarettes, police said. Bullets hit a response truck and a neighbor’s Lexus.
Once Rattigan was taken into custody, officers found he had a Glock handgun with an extended magazine. He had no prior criminal history, records said.
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