Charges dropped in police assault case

The D.C. Superior Court has dismissed charges against Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. for assaulting a Capitol Police officer.

Yearwood, the president of the Hip Hop Caucus, was arrested Sept. 10 outside a hearing at which Gen. David Petraeus was testifying.

{mosads}Yearwood still faces charges of disorderly conduct, but said he was relieved that some charges were dropped.

“This one incident in 2007 has moved us back to 1957, where people of color are once again afraid to walk the halls of Congress,” he said in a statement released Monday by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which is representing Yearwood in his case.

An e-mail seeking comment from a Capitol Police spokeswoman was not returned.

Yearwood said he asked police if he could get out of a line for a security check to conduct a radio interview. Police gave him permission to do so, he said, but when he returned another officer accused him of improper behavior and refused him entry to the Cannon House Office Building’s Caucus Room.

Yearwood said the officer took offense to the “I love the people of Iraq” button he was wearing.

A YouTube video of the incident shows Yearwood moving toward the hearing room when at least six officers surround him, tackling him and causing several ligaments in his ankle to tear. In the video, a black officer can be seen between Yearwood and the Caucus Room moments before the arrest.