Is getting hit by a snowball really cause for a police officer to draw his gun?  Really?  This is just one more example of police over-reaction.  A fun, innocent event turned into a police confrontation.

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During Washington’s record-breaking snowstorm on Saturday, a massive snowball fight was taking place at the corner of 14th and U streets that had grown men and women laughing and hurling fresh-fallen snow at one another in the middle of the street. Good-natured, wintertime fun, according to participants.

Then a D.C. police officer happened by, and the event — filmed by amateurs and a local television station — suddenly became more serious.

Videos and photos show a D.C. police detective unholstering his gun (and admitting to it) during a confrontation with a group of snowball fighters. The video is making the rounds on the Internet and national TV stations. The detective, who authorities have not identified, on one such video says: “Yes I did,” apparently referring to the fact that he drew his gun, “because I got hit with snowballs.”

D.C. police have said they are investigating the incident. Assistant Chief Pete Newsham, who leads the department’s investigative services bureau, has said the detective in question “was armed but never pulls his weapon.” Photos and videos posted online appear to contradict that, though none show the detective pointing his gun at anyone.

The incident occurred Saturday afternoon near the intersection of 14th and U streets NW. That’s where a large group of people were engaged in a snowball fight, which was organized and has now spawned a big debate on Twitter.

According to witnesses and Washington Post editorial aide Stephen Lowman, at about 3:15 the detective’s burgundy hummer got stuck in snow at the intersection, the battleground for the snowball fight. The detective got out of the vehicle, Lowman said, and he and the Hummer faced a mini-barrage of snowballs. That’s when he “kind of shows he has a gun,” Lowman said.

Another witness, 31-year-old Lacy MacAuley, said she was standing “having fun with all the other revelers” when a friend of hers suddenly yelled, “Oh my god, that guy has a gun!” She turned to see a man she later learned was a detective standing near a Hummer with a gun drawn at his side. SOURCE