D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier intervened to release three teenagers who were arrested for felony charges after relatives complained that the youth were being held too long, a department spokeswoman told The Examiner.

James L. Adams, 19, Jacques Mora, 18, and Kyle Lomax, 18, were facing a night in a courthouse jail Wednesday. They were arrested that morning on charges of felony theft from auto, police said.

Lanier stepped in after one or more family members called to say the booking process was taking too long, said police spokeswoman Traci Hughes. The chief was told that the process was delayed because the precinct’s fingerprinting system was down, Hughes said.

Officers were called directly by Lanier, who personally ordered them to release the teens from the cellblock and write felony citations for theft from auto, Hughes said. The trio spent less than 11 hours in police custody, according to court documents.

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Hughes denied that the chief bowed to outside influence.

“The bottom line is, no favorable treatment was given,” Hughes said. “There is no reason they should be held in jail longer than usual simply because the system was down.”

Families of the teenagers could not be reached for comment.

But the decision angered rank-and-file officers who say that the youths were given special treatment because of family connections. Three officers expressed concern about Lanier’s decision to The Examiner, but asked their names not be used for fear of reprisal. One called it “a slap in the face” to officers making arrests.

City code says that officers can only issue citations and release suspects in misdemeanor cases. A top ranking law enforcement source said that it had “never happened” where a suspected felon had walked out with a ticket. Court records show that each of the defendants had passed the fingerprint test by the FBI and had made the deadline to go before a judge that afternoon.

Hughes said that the Metropolitan Police Department has started a program to give citations to suspected felons in certain cases like first-degree auto theft. She could not provide any documentation about the existence of the program and she didn’t know how many felony suspects have been released under the new program. Sources in the U.S. Attorneys Office and the court system said they have not been made aware of any program.

Got a tip on the D.C. police department? Call Scott McCabe at 202-459-4950.

smccabe@dcexaminer.com

bmyers@dcexaminer.com