Two Capitol Police Officers Fired Guns at Woman’s Vehicle, Court Documents Show
The officers feared for their safety after a woman drove her car in their direction
New details have emerged in the security incident near the Capitol on Wednesday, with court documents showing that two Capitol Police officers fired their guns at a woman’s vehicle during an attempt to arrest her.
Mia K. Hill, also known as Taleah Michelle Everett, was arrested Wednesday and faces several charges, including assaulting a police officer and destruction of property, after she drove her vehicle in the direction of the officers and damaged Capitol Police vehicles. A federal judge ordered the 20 year-old be held without bond pending a preliminary hearing on April 4. Hill does not have a fixed address.
Hill appeared in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday and did not enter a plea for her charges. Court documents pertaining to her arrest describe erratic driving in the direction of officers on Wednesday morning.
The incident began at approximately 9:23 a.m. Wednesday when a Capitol Police officer observed Hill driving through a solid red light on Independence Avenue Southwest, according to an affidavit provided by Capitol Police Special Agent Kathryn Rivera.
Hill allegedly flipped her middle finger at the officer who attempted to wave her down. She then “changed lanes without caution twice,” and two officers pulled next to her, with one instructing her to get out of her vehicle. She attempted to do a U-turn, backing up in the direction of the officer and striking his vehicle.
According to the affidavit, an officer attempted to stop Hill for the third time, stepping onto the roadway and raising his arm. The document alleges she drove toward him, and then drove into oncoming traffic.
Officers then activated road barriers on Independence Avenue, forcing Hill to stop, and officers on foot surrounded her vehicle and ordered her to exit. One officer positioned his vehicle behind her car.
After refusing commands to exit her vehicle, one officer broke her rear window, another attempted to open her doors, and another went to break the driver’s door window. Hill then moved her vehicle forward, forcing some officers to move out of the way.
Hill then moved in reverse, striking and damaging the Capitol Police patrol car behind her, and she was in “close proximity” to the officers surrounding her.
“While Hill was in reverse and colliding into USCP Officer J. Greene’s vehicle, two uniformed USCP officers in fear of their own immediate safety, as well as the immediate safety of all USCP officers on scene and the immediate safety of passersby, discharged their firearms at Hill’s vehicle,” Rivera wrote in the affidavit.
An officer was able to break the driver’s door window and another officer removed Hill from her vehicle.
Neither Hill, the officers, nor any bystanders were injured in the incident. Rivera wrote that Hill spat at officers and yelled obscenities, and including a statement like, “I was up here yesterday trying to run you motherf—ers over!”
Hill faces four federal counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding a federal police officer with a dangerous weapon, and one federal count of destruction of property of the United States. She also faces a local D.C. charge of fleeing a law enforcement officer.
Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill lauded the Capitol Police officers for swift action on Wednesday. Oklahoma Republican James Lankford and Connecticut Democrat Christopher S. Murphy, the leaders of the Senate Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, which oversees Capitol Police funding, have both requested briefings on the incident.
Senate Rules and Administration Chairman Richard C. Shelby said he had not requested a briefing on the incident. His committee has oversight over the department. “I don’t need a briefing on it,” the Alabama Republican told Roll Call. “Looked like they did their duty.”
