Probation Hearing Continued After Defendant Refuses to Go to Court

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On Nov. 28, a probation show cause hearing was continued after a defendant refused to get off the bus from the DC Jail. 

Tyquell Fields, 28, is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and carrying a pistol without a license outside a home or business for his alleged involvement in a non-fatal shooting incident on the 1300 block of Clay Terrace, NE, on March 18, 2020. The shooting left a victim suffering from minor injuries.  

According to court documents, before the shooting, the victim left Clay Terrace and was driving toward Minnesota Avenue, NE. When his car pulled into an alleyway behind a McDonald’s, he and a passenger in the vehicle heard three gunshots and the rear window of their car shatter.

Following the shooting, the witness drove back to Clay Terrace and told police he did not see anyone shooting at him and that he did not have problems with anyone.

When the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers investigated they obtained video from a seafood restaurant that captured Fields walking in front of the restaurant 45 minutes after the shooting, according to court documents. 

Officers used still images taken from the footage and one officer, who is familiar with Minnesota  Avenue, reportedly identified Fields because he frequently saw him loitering in the parking lot of a McDonald’s nearby.  

Additionally, MPD obtained CCTV footage from the McDonald’s, which shows an individual dressed in a blue jacket wearing dark-colored pants and black and white shoes walking to the alleyway behind the McDonald’s with another individual not identified by police. 

Then the victim’s vehicle pulls in and Fields is seen allegedly firing multiple shots at the vehicle and the vehicle drives off through the alleyway. 

When an officer identified Fields through the still images and video, MPD issued an arrest warrant for Fields on the day of the incident. 

At the hearing, Fields’s defense attorney, Steven Polin, told DC Superior Court Judge Michael Ryan that Fields refused to get off the bus, which took him from the DC Jail to the court, without any further explanation.

Due to his absence in court, Judge Ryan rescheduled the hearing.

Parties are expected back on Jan. 9, 2024.