DC Police Chief

Cathy Lanier has said the federal law enforcement officers who shot and killed

Miriam Carey last Thursday “acted heroically,” but if they were her police officers, they would

face disciplinary action and perhaps termination for shooting at a moving vehicle.

DC Police general orders prohibit officers from shooting “at or from” a moving vehicle,

even if that vehicle is coming at them with intent to do harm.

Lanier’s comments and actions are crucial in the aftermath of the fatal shooting,

because use of force by US Capitol Police and Secret Service agents falls under the

purview of the MPD’s Internal Affairs Division.

Police shot Carey, 34, in her car after she tried to ram her vehicle into a White

House barrier and led police on a car chase to Capital Hill. According to court documents

and police, officers fired at her as she backed out of Garfield Circle, near the US

Botanic Garden. She sped off again and stopped a few blocks away at a guard shack

on the 100 block of Maryland Avenue, Northeast. Police fired again at the car as she

backed up.

The police gunshots killed Carey, a dental hygienist from Connecticut. She was unarmed.

Her toddler was in the backseat and came away unharmed.

DC’s Internal Affairs Division is investigating the case, in which federal police

officers fired 17 shots. Neither the Secret Service nor the Capitol Police have made

public their rules and regulations on the use of deadly force, but the MPD’s guidelines

are clear.

General order 901.07 states, “No member of the Metropolitan Police Department shall

discharge his/her firearm at or from a moving vehicle unless deadly force is being

used against the officer or another person. For purposes of this order, a moving vehicle

is not considered deadly force.”

The order was established in 2002 and revised in 2005.

Carey injured two law enforcement officers as she tried to ram barricades and avoid

police, but under DC rules, she was not using deadly force. Therefore, local DC police

would have been acting against orders if they had shot at the car.

At a news conference after the shooting, Lanier praised federal police officers, saying,

“They did exactly what they were supposed to do, and they stopped a suspect from breaching

security perimeters in a vehicle at both locations.”

Lanier’s police department came to the opposite conclusion in a 2005 shooting incident.

Three officers—Abe Lazarus, Scott Craiger, and Charlie Hoetzel—were investigating

reports of a drug deal that December. When they confronted the driver of the car in

question, he tried to run over Craiger, who fired as he fell. His two partners fired

at the vehicle as it sped off. The MPD moved to terminate the three officers, all

with stellar records. They successfully fought the terminations but faced suspensions

for their actions.

Their story was the subject of “Don’t Shoot,” a feature in

Washingtonian’s January 2007 issue.

MPD spokesperson

Gwendolyn Crump confirmed that the general order barring DC police from firing at moving vehicles

is still in effect. Many police departments have similar prohibitions.

Miriam Carey’s family members have questioned the use of force. “Deadly force was

not necessary,” her sister,

Valarie Carey, told reporters. “They could have rammed the car or disabled it.”

The Capitol Police and Secret Service are also investigating whether their officers

followed use-of-force rules. Ultimately, the US Attorney’s Office would decide whether

the officers broke any laws.

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