D.C. Man on Moped Attacked Officers, Caused Concussion

The White House claimed on Sunday that the press misreported a story about officers arresting a man operating his moped in D.C., alleging that he had suspected gang affiliations and violently resisted arrest.

Initial reports from the Washington Post and Politico claimed that the president’s crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital led to an innocent man being arrested while riding his moped.

“Yesterday morning, just off of 14th Street NW, a group of masked law enforcement officers arrested a moped driver. Onlookers stood near a coffee shop and the entrance to a luxury condo building, recording the altercation on their phones; WaPo reporter Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff was among them. Shouts from the crowd that the officers — whose vests read simply ‘police’ — identify the agency with which they were affiliated were dismissed,” reported Politico.

“‘Do I have to answer to you?’ one officer barked back, his question rhetorical. ‘You’ve gotta answer to somebody,’ yelled a pedestrian. The officers never identified themselves, never provided their badge numbers, never revealed their agency,” it added. “They took the moped driver into an unmarked SUV and spirited him off, destination unknown. A block away, the weekend brunch service at Le Diplomate continued without interruption.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed in a post on X that the press did not ask the administration for comment, adding that the man had alleged gang affiliations and gave an officer a concussion upon arrest.

“Politico Playbook today was written to fear DC residents into believing federal law enforcement randomly arrested an innocent ‘moped driver,’” she wrote. “If Politico had reached out to the White House for comment before publishing, we could have provided them with the facts: The ‘moped driver’ was an Illegal Alien Criminal from Venezuela with suspected gang affiliation and an active final order of removal from the country.”