The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia officially concluded its probe into the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Dalaneo Martin by a United States Park Police officer, declaring a lack of substantial evidence to proceed with federal criminal civil rights or local charges. This decision comes from a collaborative examination involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Metropolitan Police Department’s (MPD) Internal Affairs Division, with an analysis of extensive materials, including surveillance and body-worn camera footage, witness statements, and autopsy records.
Details released by the U.S. Attorney's Office recount the events of March 18, 2023, when MPD officers responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle on the 3400 block of Baker Street, Northeast. The vehicle, with a mismatched license plate and a tampered ignition, was carrying Mr. Martin, asleep at the wheel. A confrontation ensued after a plan to extract Mr. Martin from the car went awry, resulting in the officer shooting Martin while being carried in the fleeing vehicle.
"Stop man, just let me out! Let me out! Stop or I’ll shoot," the Park Police officer reportedly demanded, according to details provided in their statement before firing five rounds at Martin, who later crashed the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene. Despite the gravity of the situation, prosecutors concluded there was insufficient evidence to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer's actions were criminally liable for the young man's death, as the Justice Department's press release indicated.
