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A Federal Agent Shot at a Driver in D.C. An MPD Officer Was Told To Omit the Shooting from His Report.

A Federal Agent Shot at a Driver in D.C. An MPD Officer Was Told To Omit the Shooting from His Report.

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A Homeland Security Investigations agent shot at a man in D.C. at least three times during a traffic stop on Oct. 17, according to the man’s attorneys. But Metropolitan Police Department Officer Jason Sterling, who was working with federal agents on the “Make DC Safe Again” initiative that day, omitted any mention of the shooting in an affidavit filed in court. His partner, Officer Divonnie Powell also omitted it from the public incident report.

None of the bullets struck Phillip Brown, the driver and sole occupant of the Dodge SUV, according to his attorneys. But two bullets pierced his passenger seat, and a third ripped through the jacket he was wearing, near the collar, according his attorneys. Brown was ultimately charged with fleeing from law enforcement, a felony.

Sterling testified in court last week that he was instructed by a “team leader” not to include details of the federal agent’s shooting in his report because there would be an internal affairs investigation into the incident, according to Quo Mieko S. Judkins, Brown’s defense attorney. Sterling also did not mention the shooting to the U.S. attorney who was tasked with deciding whether to formally file criminal charges against Brown.

“I’ve never heard of that,” Judkins says, adding that police and prosecutors are required to disclose those details to the defense.

Judkins says neither she nor the U.S. attorney were provided with the body camera footage of the incident—another oddity in how this case played out. She says the prosecutor said the footage was “locked down.”

Police initially stopped Brown because they suspected the tint on his windows was too dark and he was allegedly missing a front license plate.

Sterling’s affidavit filed in D.C. Superior Court describes how he and Powell were patrolling with agents from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, the Diplomatic Security Service, the U.S. Marshal Service, the FBI, and HSI.

Sterling notes that the SUV was “traveling at a normal speed,” but switched lanes several times “just as Officer Sterling activated the emergency equipment to affect a traffic stop.”