The U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. decided no civil rights charges will be filed against a U.S. Park Police officer in the 2023 fatal shooting of a 17-year-old boy.

A thorough investigation found there wasn’t enough evidence to bring charges, the U.S Attorney’s Office said.

On March 18, 2023, the Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Park Police responded to a report about a suspicious car on 34^th Street in Northeast Washington.

Officers observed a sleeping individual, later identified as Dalaneo Martin, sitting in the driver’s seat of the vehicle. Police determined the vehicle had a license plate affixed to it that belonged to another car and that its ignition had been damaged.

After the officers learned the car had been stolen, they attempted to remove Martin from the vehicle. D.C. police told Park Police to let him go if tried to drive away, but he drove away with a Park Police officer in the backseat of the car.

The officer asked Martin to stop the car.

“Stop man, just let me out! Let me out! Stop or I’ll shoot,” the officer said.

But Martin kept driving the car, and the officer shot him.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The car continued traveling down 36^th Street until it crashed into a house nearby.

Martin’s family released a statement through an attorney saying they will not let the decision stop them from seeking justice.

People throughout the D.C. area and across the United States reported receiving racist spam text messages the day after the election that told them to report to plantations to pick cotton.

One person, who did not want to be identified, sent News4 a screenshot of the text, which said:

“Greetings, You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation. Be ready at 12PM SHARP with your belongings. Our Executive Slaves will come get you in a Black Van, be prepared to be searched down once you’ve enter[sic] the plantation. You are in Plantation Group S”

News4 obtained the screenshot of a similar text sent to another person from the region:

A third text shared on the Washingtonian Problems Instagram had specific references to the District and Virginia. In that message, the recipient was told they would be a “house slave” at the Abingdon Plantation in Arlington which is on land shared with Washington Reagan National Airport. They’re directed to an address in Southwest DC and are also told it is mandatory.

The Metropolitan Police Department’s Office of Homeland Security Intelligence is investigating the origins of the messages directing people to a Southwest address, police said.

Each message is slightly different in detail and specificity.

Some students in Montgomery County, Maryland, also received the texts, the school system said in a letter to families.

“We recognize that the emotional and psychological impact on our students, staff, and particularly our communities of color is profound. We stand in solidarity with those who feel targeted and hurt by these actions,” Montgomery County Public Schools said in the letter.

School officials asked anyone who received the messages to report them to local authorities or school staff.

The attorneys general for Washington, D.C. and Virginia condemned the texts and asked residents to reach out to local law enforcement if they’re in danger.

For District residents, the Office of the Attorney General asked anyone who received the texts to reach out to the civil rights section at 202-727-3400 or emailing OAGCivilRights@dc.gov.

D.C. police advised forwarding the messages to the Federal Trade Commission at 7726 or report them to ReportFraud.ftc.gov, as well as marking the messages as junk or spam in order to report them to the messaging app.

People in Alabama, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and other states have also reported getting the texts, according to online news reports. Many of the texts appeared to go to students – including some in middle school.

The source of the widespread texts is unknown at this time and it’s unclear how they obtained the phone numbers and names of so many.

Tuesday’s election delivered two major voting reforms to the District of Columbia. Initiative 83, which passed overwhelmingly, has two components — first, it will allow independent voters to cast ballots in D.C. primaries and second, it will bring ranked choice voting to the city.

In D.C., where Democrats dominate and Republicans are hardly heard from in citywide results, elections tend to be won or lost in the primary — months ahead of the November election.

Lisa Rice, a D.C. resident and the lead supporter of the initiative, was motivated by her frustration as an independent voter who was shut out of primary elections.

“There are 75,000 of us who will be enfranchised and we will be able to vote in the election of consequence here in D.C. … We’re going to have politicians working harder for the people, by letting independents vote in primary elections,” said Rice.

While Arlington County continues with its pilot program of ranked choice voting, Initiative 83 will bring the same procedure to D.C.

“You vote for your favorite candidate and then you rank your backed up choices. If your favorite doesn’t win, your vote simply moves to your next choice until a candidate wins with 50%,” said Rice.

“I’ll be voting ‘no’ on the initiative,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a high-profile critic of the idea, said last month.

She called ranked choice voting “a very complicated election system.”

“I am totally against ranked choice voting,” Bowser said. “I don’t think that our very good experience with elections suggests that we need to make any change.”

Rice said she thinks the system is “different,” rather than “complicated.”

“Voters like it and voters get used to it,” Rice said.

The measure has been approved by the voters, next it must be funded by the D.C. Council.

“Before the end of the year, it will be before them. We really are excited about that and we look forward to being part of the discussions about the budget process. … Our hope is this will be implemented in time for the 2026 election cycle — the June primary,” said Rice.

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