U.S. Park Police Officer will not be charged for fatal shooting of 17-year-old

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Attorney's Office for D.C. has announced that no civil rights charges will be filed against the U.S. Park Police officer who fatally shot a 17-year-old back in 2023.

According to NBC4, the Attorney's Office said that after conducting a thorough investigation, there was not enough evidence to bring charges against the police officer. WTOP News reported that the Attorney's Office said in a statement that prosecutors, Park Police, and the FBI determined "there is insufficient evidence to pursue federal criminal civil rights or District of Columbia charges" in the death of Dalaneo Martin. 

Prosecutors said after reviewing physical evidence, surveillance and body-worn camera video footage, audio and visual recordings from an ambulance, witness accounts, autopsy records, and D.C. police reports, they found "insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the United States Park Police Officer is criminally liable for Mr. Martin's death."

Back on March 18, 2023, D.C. and Park Police officers responded to a report of a suspicious car that was parked on Baker Street NE, near 34th Street. Upon arriving on scene, police found a teenager, later identified as Martin, sleeping in the driver's seat of what officers believed to be a stolen Hyundai. Body-worn camera footage, released two weeks after the shooting, showed officers strategizing how to remove the driver from the vehicle as he slept.

When officers opened the car doors, one Park Police officer climbed into the rear seat of the vehicle and said, "Police, don't move." Within seconds, Martin woke up and "a struggle ensued, and Mr. Martin put the car in drive and accelerated down the street with a United States Park Police Officer in the backseat of the car."  As the car turned onto Kenilworth Avenue, the officer said, "Stop man, just let me out! Let me out. Stop it or I'll shoot."

According to prosecutors, after the verbal warnings, the "Park Police officer extended his service pistol forward and held the service pistol with a two-handed grip and discharged five shots." The car left the road, went up an embankment, and crashed into a house on 36th Street Northeast. Martin was pronounced dead at the scene.

One year after the shooting, Martin's family expressed frustration at the lack of information they were receiving during the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation. In addition to criminal charges against the officer, attorneys said the family could file a civil case to produce changes to prevent deaths like Martin's. After the decision was made not to prosecute the officer, Andrew O. Clarke, an attorney for Martin's family issued a statement saying Martin didn't pose a "direct threat to the officer's safety or to others in the vicinity. Yet, seconds later, he paid the ultimate price in an encounter that never should have ended in the use of lethal force."

In the press release, the Attorney's Office said, "The U.S. Attorney's Office remains committed to investigating allegations of excessive force by law enforcement officers and will continue to devote the resources necessary to ensure that all allegations of serious civil rights violations are investigated fully and completely. MPD's Internal Affairs Division investigates all police-involved fatalities in the District of Columbia."