On September 1st, 2024, DC police
arrived at the scene of a vehicle that
crashed into a McDonald's drive-thru.
According to local reporting, witnesses
claimed the suspect had been asleep in
the drive-thru for an hour before the
car moved forward and crashed into the
building. Witnesses also reported seeing
a second driver parked behind the
suspect, who was also asleep at the
wheel.
Yeah. Send me additional units to
McDonald's. Suspect has a firearm on his
lap. Hey, for you guys. For you guys. I
have two other vehicles right there.
Look out on the vehicle. I have a white
Mercedes sedan. No. Mercedes. No.
Hey, get her out of the car.
[Music]
Get out.
You're too drunk to drive. Get out of
the car and walk now. I'm not going to
repeat myself. Get out of the car and
walk now. This is not a game. All I did
was take a break. It's okay. Wait. Wait.
Wait. And you got your You have to walk.
Ma'am, I'm working right now. Get out of
the car. If you don't get out, I'm
ripping you out of the car. No, you're
not. I'm going to count down three.
You're not to get out of the car. No,
you're not. There's a man in this car
with a gun. I need you to get out of the
car now, miss. I do not care what you're
doing. Get out of the car.
Care. You are drunk. I'm not going to
arrest you for DUI. They've been sitting
here for 30 minutes. Miss, I live right
off the street. I live
home. I need you to get out of this
world. I got a 5-year-old at home. I
don't care. I'm a SPO. I serve with you
every day. Don't do this to me. Do not
do this to me. Do you understand?
Drunk to listen to me. No, I'm not. You
are too drunk to listen.
Put your car in reverse. Go that way.
Can you do me a favor and get them out
of here, too?
Copy. Okay, I need uh someone to block
off the parking lot for McDonald's after
it's cleared off. Hey, can you turn him
that
way? The vehicle is is immobile right
now. He's crashing the side of the
building. Units responding. Turn your
lights and sirens off, please. Lights
and sirens
off. Guys, come around to the pay here
section of McDonald's past the
drive-thru. at the very start of the
drive-thru. I need one vehicle to come
block the front of this vehicle. I need
another one to come up. Block the back
of the vehicle. Intersection of
McDonald's. Yo, yo, you got to go. You
got to go.
Go that way. No, go that way.
The front of this vehicle. I need
another one to come up. Block the back
of the vehicle.
Hey, bring your
car. Bring your cruiser. I need one car
to up front. I need one behind.
Get your car. Get your car. Get your
car.
Block here. I need a car here. I need a
car in the back.
Hey, you're good for now. Homie hasn't
moved at all.
Standby. Where's the front
cruiser? Sorry, I couldn't get into the
car. It's okay. Everyone's
excited. Hey, if you're here, I'm coming
up front.
Hey, like 2 in
away. Watch
out. Watch out. Watch out. Watch out.
Everybody watch crossfire.
If you're not up here at least to the
back door, it's not too gun. Hey, these
windows are open.
Yo, windows open.
So, what we need is we need we need
deadly coverage and we need an
extraction. Okay.
No.
Is the vehicle is it open? It looks like
the doors are unlocked, but I haven't
checked yet. I can reach in and unlock
the
door. Crossfire, bro.
Hey. So, hey guys. Hey, listen. If
you're aiming like
down, okay,
hold on. Let's see what we got.
Thank you.
Well, stand by to be guided by an
official.
Stand by.
Hey, turn her around. Leave. Turn
around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn
around.
Turn around.
Once you open the door, use the shield
and press down on the gun so he can't
grab cuz he's he can't go anywhere. I
don't Do we even have enough room to
move our shield in there? Is the door
unlocked? It It looks like it is.
How slowly
unlock. You want me to reach in and
unlock it?
Fire in the lap. The the back windows
down. I can reach in and unlock the the
the door and we can open and go straight
to the fire. He's still out. Or you want
to back off? Back off. Back off.
Get somebody with the shield. I I'm How
is the people in McDonald going?
Yo, sorry.
Move it. I got movement.
Keep your hand off the guard.
Sir, put your hands up. Hands up. Hands
up. Hands up. Hands up. Hands
up. Watch the gun. Hands up. Hands up.
Hands up. Hands up. He's up.
[Music]
Hands up. Hands up.
Hey, we have eye on the firearm. Got the
firearm. Firearm recover. Move back.
Move back. Back. Back. Back. Back. Back.
Hey. Start the board. No. No. Back to
the car. Back to the car. No. Back to
the car. No, we got to treat him, bro.
Hey, firearm is safe. Out of the way.
Hey, you have any other firearms, bro?
Hey, somebody grab a kit. Grab a kit.
Grab a kit.
Obviously additional units
at
anybody. I got
all units including those on details may
respond once it's safe and unit advisor
is an MD use of force.
I I don't know, sir.
1 2 3 4 5
6 You want to take over compression?
HR12.
Go over the air. Make sure DFS is coming
out to recover the firearm. Can you also
make
sure you got it? Thanks.
703. the ambulance to get out if they
need to.
Hey, somebody secure the firearm,
please.
Who's Who is a union rep? Get in my car.
72.
Um,
just stay on for a second, but don't say
anything. All right.
Just stay with the pen.
Hi, you okay?
Despite the efforts of EMS, the driver
was pronounced dead on the scene while
DFS recovered the firearm that the
suspect had in his possession. The
driver was later identified as
25-year-old Justin Robinson, a violence
interrupter with the Cure the Streets
program, a public safety program
launched by the DC Attorney General's
Office, which aims to reduce gun crimes
that result from reciprocal violence.
During a press conference on September
10th regarding the incident, DC Police
Chief Pamela Smith spoke on the efficacy
of DC's violence interruption programs.
The city has has um been very
instrumental in working with our
violence interrupters. I think the
programs have been certainly um
instrumental um and helping us u mediate
issues and and and and I'll say conflict
resolution, conflict that occurs within
our our district and and and the
violence interrupterss um have been very
instrumental in supporting us, I
believe, with the the crime that
reduction that you have seen um across
the District of Columbia. Cure the
Streets typically partners with formerly
incarcerated people to use their
influence to intervene in neighborhood
disputes. Robinson was one of those
formerly incarcerated people. According
to the Washington Post, Robinson played
an integral role in the 2016 murder of
Demetrius Medlay. On the day of the
funeral for Robinson's older brother,
himself a victim of a gun murder.
Robinson had a tense exchange with
Medlay who was from a rival
neighborhood. Robinson then told another
man from his neighborhood, Kevin Grover,
to smoke him if he came back. Minutes
later, Grover shot Medlay twice in the
chest. Robinson plead guilty in 2018 to
assault with intent to kill and served 5
years in federal prison. He was released
in 2022, and by April of 2024, he was
working with the Cure the Streets
program. He became wellknown in the DC
community as a positive role model for
kids and frequented outreach events with
Cure the Streets. try to tell the
younger people and the community members
period that it's more than like that
going to go grab a gun, get your job,
come down here and chill with us.
Robinson's death came on the heels of
the arrest of DC council member Trayon
White Senior, who was accused of
accepting bribes over contracts
involving violence interruption.
Residents were also on edge awaiting the
sentencing of two DC police officers,
one found guilty of seconddegree murder
and the other for obstruction of
justice. On September 10th, Robinson's
family agreed to release the body cam
footage to the public. And that night,
around 100 demonstrators gathered at the
McDonald's where Robinson was shot. The
demonstrations were largely peaceful,
though at one point police arrested
several people for throwing bottles and
rocks at officers. On January 15th,
2025, the US Attorney's Office for the
District of Columbia announced that
there was insufficient evidence to
pursue charges against the two officers
who shot Robinson. And both returned to
full active duty. On our second video,
we have a guy asleep in McDonald's with
a gun in his lap. And this is a very
tense situation because there's other
people in the drive-thru, which the
officer actually got into an argument
with another uh person in the
drive-thru, but he he was smart enough
to say, "You know what? I don't have to
deal with that. let me deal with this
cuz this is a much more dangerous
situation. And one thing to keep in mind
is some of the windows of the vehicle
were open. But that may create a more
dangerous situation because if the
officer is reaching in and grabbing this
gun, you don't know what the suspect
might do. And if the other officers on
location are forced to fire, that puts
that officer in a dangerous situation
and the other officer surrounding in a
dangerous situation. Whereas the
officers are planning and being
strategic. They're trying to see if they
can get this gun, but the male begins to
wake up. So at this point, they have to
yell to the male to drop the gun. And
remember, when you're waking up, a lot
of people are disoriented. So the male
didn't know where he was when he went to
sleep. It was nothing around probably.
But then when he wakes up, all these
police officers around him and he has
guns pointed at him. However, he still
shouldn't have grabbed that gun cuz that
is what forced the officers to fire.
They had no choice in my opinion.