On Nov. 6, 2008, David Kerstetter was shot and killed inside his home by D.C. police officers. Despite the decision of the U.S. attorney's office not to prosecute the officers involved, Kerstetter's family has filed a notice with the District that it plans to sue the city over their son's death. The family's attorney, Douglas Sparks, notified Mayor Adrian Fenty in a letter dated May 1 [PDF].

We have written about the Kerstetter shooting here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here---not to mention the cover story linked above. The Sparks letter is based on the lawyer's interviews with witnesses, the autopsy report, and an exhaustive scene analysis. It provides the first counter-narrative to law enforcement's public account that Kerstetter had lunged at the officers with a knife---that Officer Frederick Friday shot and killed the Logan Circle resident in self defense. The new evidence appears to point to excessive force.

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Earlier this week, I asked the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Office of Attorney General for a breakdown of the types of arrests made from this past weekend's All Hands On Deck initiative. The somewhat controversial program basically has the entire D.C. Police Department hitting city streets and, you know, fighting crime. Last weekend produced 377 arrests.

We heard reports that cyclists were getting ticketed. One colleague told me that his neighbor got stung with a drinking-in-public arrest. The evidence against him: an empty cup that at one point had booze in it. His case was tossed.

So what of 377 arrests were for real stuff? It appears that D.C. Police made a good amount of solid cases. You be the judge!

Read More "A Partial Breakdown Of All Hands On Deck Arrests" »