National Guard troops deployed to Washington, D.C., stepped in to break up a fistfight near a public park, underscoring the new security presence that has coincided with a sharp drop in violent crime in the nation’s capital, the Washington Examiner reported.
Pedro Rodriguez, writing in the Examiner, recounted seeing the Guard intervene during a scuffle in the busy Eastern Market area. One of the fighters fled on a bicycle as Guardsmen de-escalated the situation, preventing it from endangering families and bystanders nearby.
“Without the Guard, that altercation could have spiraled out of control,” Rodriguez wrote.
He argued that the episode highlights the added value of federal reinforcements at a time when D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department has been stretched thin.
