While on the way to help the Capitol Police with this week’s events, the New York officers joined “in a foot pursuit and helped apprehend” someone who was fleeing after a traffic stop, according to an NYPD official.
The New York Police Department “is always on duty and always working to make New Yorkers, and in this case, citizens of Washington DC safe,” wrote Kaz Daughtry, the New York department’s deputy commissioner for operations.
In the Tuesday morning incident, D.C. officers had stopped a vehicle near the Starburst Intersection in Northeast as part of an auto theft investigation, said Tom Lynch, a spokesman for the D.C. police.
Two people ran from the vehicle, and the New York officers, apparently arriving by bus, saw what was happening, Lynch said.
The New York officers “helped us run after” the two, the D.C. spokesman said.
Two people were taken into custody on charges of unauthorized use of an automobile, Lynch said.
“We appreciate our friends in the NYPD for their assistance,” he said.
The intersection where the incident occurred is on a direct driving route between New York City and the Capitol. Maryland Avenue intersects with Bladensburg Road there.
More than 200 NYPD officers are in the District and have been sworn in as special officers of the U.S. Capitol Police to help with policing at the Capitol this week, NYPD deputy commissioner Daughtry posted Tuesday afternoon.
He said his department would always answer the call to ensure that the public is safe “and that democracy is protected.”
Thousands of demonstrators are expected at the Capitol on Wednesday, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to address a joint meeting of Congress.
Capitol police arrested about 200 people Tuesday who protested U.S. weapons sales to Israel in the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building.