Imagine being taken from the only place of safety you have, dragged into a police vehicle, and detained for hours with no probable cause. Then, when you’re dumped back on the street, all of your belongings are gone.
Daniel Kingery, an unhoused veteran beloved by DC locals, experienced such callousness firsthand. On Thursday, October 2, 2025, Daniel was cruelly detained by the DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
A horrific video of his detainment was filmed by an anonymous source and shared on the popular @WashingtonianProbs Instagram account. Rather than being arrested, he was allegedly civilly committed under FD-12, which gives police powers to detain someone for “emergency involuntary hospitalization.” He was taken to a VA hospital and later released onto the street. When he returned, all of his belongings and abode had been completely removed from the street, as shown below (vacant spot to the left of the tree).
According to the DC Police Complaint’s website :
“Emergency hospitalization is a legal mechanism that officers can use to protect people in crisis from causing harm to themselves, officers, or others.”
It goes on to state:
“However, given the potential violation of civil liberties that comes with emergency involuntary hospitalization, it is imperative that the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) provide its members clear written guidance and training on the legal standard for involuntary hospitalization to avoid infringing on people’s constitutional rights and protect against otherwise avoidable civil liability for the District, MPD, and its members.”
Anyone who has ever met Daniel agrees that he is not only phenomenally kind, gentle, and peaceful, but is also highly intelligent, cogent, and wise. Daniel has been a political activist for many years, striving to call out corruption at the highest levels of government and sharing this message with anyone who walks by. Never, to the best of our knowledge, has he ever shown any instances of behavior that would justify his detainment under FD-12.
Despite serving his country as a marine, Daniel has been repeatedly let down by his government. And as an unhoused veteran, the mistreatment is only getting worse. Hundreds of unhoused people are under attack in DC due to Trump’s recent Executive Order . What’s more, Mayor Muriel Bowser has betrayed her own citizens by enforcing the dismantlement of encampments and the criminalization of homelessness in DC . This dehumanization of our city’s most vulnerable citizens must stop.
We are asking for donations–big or small–to help Daniel recover from this traumatic experience. 100% of these donations will go to Daniel to do with as he pleases to support himself with food, materials, etc to rebuild his life.
Please donate anything you can to help a man who has only ever shown kindness, warmth, and his intellect to strangers.
We understand times are tough in DC. If you can't donate, Daniel asks his supporters to go to the DC City Council and request recall packets for the mayor and president. Bring friends and spread the word. DC deserves better than Bowser, and we sure as hell deserve better than Trump.
I know Daniel because we feed him every Saturday through our work. I am raising these funds with a group of 13 people who know Daniel personally and created this fundraiser for him. We will distribute 100% of the funds to Daniel.