Harry Jaffe, The Examiner
2007-09-21 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -

The ugly scene unfolding on Condon Terrace has all the makings of an old-fashioned “off the pigs” frenzy: Two off-duty metropolitan police officers, supposedly trying to recover a stolen minibike, get shot at, return fire and wind up shooting and killing a 14-year-old boy.

Cops can’t find the gun the kid supposedly used.

The minibike is nowhere to be found.

DeOnte Rawlings’ mother is wailing, and his stepfather is demanding an investigation.

Looks grim for the men and women in blue.

But before we vilify the cops and head down the road toward charges of police brutality, let’s examine the few facts that we know.

One of the officers, James Haskel, lives close to the corner of Atlantic and Yuma streets SE, where the shooting occurred at sundown Tuesday. The setting is one of the most dangerous parts of town. Condon Terrace has public housing projects, but new homes are going up across Wheeler Road. The changes can make for a toxic mix. I’m hearing that Haskel and his neighbors had been the victims of many burglaries in the past few months. Bikes and other property had been ripped off.

The dead teenager, DeOnte Rawlings, had had recent brushes with the law. I couldn’t determine whether they were noncriminal contacts that triggered reports, or investigations into criminal activity. Community activists told me the people Rawlings ran with had been involved in gunplay in the past month.

Police have determined that a .45-caliber pistol was fired at Haskel and Anthony Clay when they stopped to question Rawlings, who was riding the minibike.

Both Haskel and Clay are veteran police officers with unblemished records. They are solid family men, raising kids in the city. When Haskel found his minibike missing, he went looking for it. Wouldn’t you?

“A police officer has as many rights as anyone else to locate lost property,” a commanding officer told me. “We don’t have rules that they can’t investigate crimes against themselves.”

Much was made of the fact that federal investigators with the U.S. Attorney’s office will be looking into the shooting, as if this were a special case. In fact, the MPD refers every single shooting incident to the federal prosecutor’s office. It’s been standard operating procedure for years.

Mayor Adrian Fenty went to the scene with Police Chief Cathy Lanier to try to calm the community. The locals heckled them.

What Fenty heard was the voices of people who have been left out during four Marion Barry administrations and two under Tony Williams. No jobs, no education, no future. But plenty of opportunity for mischief, and a surplus of guns.

There is not much good that can come of this mess.

A boy is dead. Two good cops, facing discipline or worse, are suffering the consequences of poor judgment.

An investigation might find all the facts, but Condon Terrace gets better only if the mayor sticks around and tries to fix the schools, the families and kids who roam the streets.

Harry Jaffe has been covering the Washington area since 1985. E-mail him at hjaffe@washingtonian.com.