As we were leaving for afternoon errands, we noticed a bunch of police tape being strung up in front of our house. The cops weren't letting anyone stand around outside, much less ask any questions.
We returned 90 minutes later and the yellow and red tape was still there. WTOP had reported the activity during its traffic report, but didn't have any information about what the activity actually was. I took a few pictures at the tape (which crosses our gate) but was then told to go back inside. Local news isn't on it yet. But there are cops and ambulances blocking the intersections on 24th, New Hampshire, K, and I Streets. Fire trucks and other various emergency vehicles around the circle.
We haven't gotten our mail yet, and the regular din of ambulances for GWU's emergency room has stopped. Very strange.
UPDATE (3:35 pm): screengrab from a WaPo.com traffic camera, which appears to be located on the southwest side of the circle, where K Street enters:
UPDATE (4:35pm): It's over; the police are taking the tape down now and traffic is moving (slowly) through the area again. If the DC alert is correct regarding it being a jumper, I suspect the person was threatening to jump into the construction site across 23rd St from the hospital. Dozens of fire and rescue vehicles around that "corner" of the circle between 23rd and Penn, and along 23rd.
Whew. We normally only experience this sort of police attention when Cheney has chest pain.
5 comments:
I got caught in this mess around 1pm. I asked a cop how long he thought it would be like this and he said "a while." I went through Georgetown to get home, but apparently it was still bad when I left. Would love to know what happened, so please do update.
According to Alert DC (https://textalert.ema.dc.gov/latest.php): "Latest Alerts
07/19/08 15:13 Street closings due to situation with a potential jumper - S side of Washington Circle from K to 23rd St NW; 900 block of 24th St NW; 900 block of New Hampshire Ave NW. 23rd St. NW near circle is very congested. Avoid area if possible."
I cant find any details of it on any website other then theirs.
Kiley-
Thanks for posting that. I could see police in bulletproof vests on the traffic cam, but in general the feeling outside has been pretty calm and quiet, so that makes sense. And the bulk of the activity appears to be around K and 24th, where there is a way to jump into the K St tunnel. But that doesn't seem like a long enough distance to me...?
yeah, this person is on top of the hospital building. I just talked to a friend that was talking to one of the cops down there.
sad.
Yikes! I hope they were able to talk the person down. Very sad, indeed.
Thanks for following up.
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