Four arrested in DC for public weed consumption, open containers

Four arrested in DC for public weed consumption, open containers

U.S. Park Police arrested four people in Logan Circle and Dupont Circle over open containers of alcohol and public consumption of marijuana.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Park Police arrested four people in Logan Circle and Dupont Circle over open containers of alcohol and public consumption of marijuana. 

What we know:

USPP arrested three people for open containers of alcohol, and one person for public consumption of marijuana. 

One of the people arrested had an active warrant for burglary, per USPP. 

USPP said its officers were enforcing President Donald Trump's Executive Order 14252, Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful. 

In a statement, USPP said that, "Since March the United States Park Police have made about 468 arrests in the Washington Metropolitan Area, which includes DC, Maryland, and Virginia."

Dig deeper:

D.C. residents posted on social media about the arrests, with one video captioned "they are kidnapping random civilians." 

"In this particular case, it is federal land, so they do have the ability to listen to the president, but again we're in a situation where if you're looking for something, you can find it," criminal law expert Donte Mills said. "Any federal judge would be pissed if they have to deal with an individual marijuana use case on their docket—it's a waste of time. that's not what the target of federal investigations should be."

"There's going to be situations that you can either create or present themselves that bring you an opportunity to justify your actions. For example, an open container or smoking marijuana, we don't see on the federal level, and I practice a lot of criminal work on the federal level. We don't see individual marijuana use being prosecuted. that just doesn't happen," Mills went on to say.