A D.C. police detective was sentenced to a year of probation for a simple assault and fleeing from a law enforcement officer.
A judge sentenced William J. Witkowski, 47, to 21 days in jail, but suspended the jail time and ordered the detective to 100 hours of community service.
According to prosecutors, Witkowski was off duty and out of uniform in the early morning hours of June 26 and driving in his truck with another off-duty D.C. police officer.
At 14th and Fairmont streets NW, Witkowski stopped his truck on a sidewalk and contronted two men beside a car that was in front of a “No Parking” sign. Witkowski pushed one of them, and placed him in a chokehold, authorities said.
A D.C. police officer who was on duty drove by the scene in a marked car and Witkowski hopped into his truck. The officer told Witkowski to put the vehicle in park, but Witkowski backed his truck off the sidewalk and drove away. The police officer followed Witkowski in her vehicle with the squad car’s lights and sirens on, and Witkowski pulled over at 11th and Girard streets NW.
A D.C. police spokeswoman said she did not immediately know whether Witkowski status was with the department.
