Officers Turn Memorial Into a Debauchery

A contingent of out-of-town police officers--in the capital to honor colleagues killed in the line of duty--triggered hotel fire alarms, groped and mooned guests and slid naked down the lobby escalator at the Hyatt Regency Hotel during a long night of debauchery earlier this week, according to witnesses and officials.

The revelers, who forced the evacuation of the Hyatt, were among thousands of police officers from across the nation visiting Washington to participate in National Police Week, which included a ceremony with President Clinton to commemorate officers killed in the line of duty.

“If they were here to honor their brothers and sisters who’ve fallen in the line of duty, it’s a disgrace,” said Barbara Smith, a union worker and a guest at the Hyatt who says she was jostled and groped by a group of disorderly men who she said were police officers.

A D.C. police officer who helped evacuate hundreds of Hyatt guests from hallways choked with smoke and fumes from discharged fire extinguishers also expressed anger. “I, myself, was very upset,” said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “You can hurt somebody doing that, including us.”

The raucous behavior had New York Police Commissioner William Bratton seething and sparked formal police investigations by both the New York Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau and the Washington Police Department, officials said.

“They dishonored themselves and they dishonored the public they are paid to serve,” a visibly angered Bratton said Thursday of the 200 New York City cops believed to have taken part in the wild conduct.

It was after a Saturday night vigil, attended by widows and relatives of dead officers from around the country, when the New York City officers decided to paint the town red, several hotel general managers said.

Hotel security guards and witnesses described watching uniformed officers with holstered guns who looked to be intoxicated.

A group of about 20 officers at the Hyatt shed their clothing, poured beer on the center strip of the lobby escalator and took turns sliding down, according to a hotel employee who witnessed the scene--including the disrobing--sometime after midnight Monday.

Hyatt employees called D.C. police to the hotel, but they made no arrests. Some guests and hotel workers questioned whether D.C. police gave special treatment to their out-of-town colleagues.

D.C. Police Chief Fred Thomas ordered his Internal Affairs Division to investigate the incidents and whether D.C. police responded properly.

Gary Dollens, general manager of the Hyatt, said that officers who caused problems were “primarily” from New York City but that some came from other areas as well.