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Emma Uber's newsletter, The DC Dispatch, takes you deeper into the scandals, disputes and delights in Washington. It will feature news and a story you'll want to share in your group chat.


Emma joined City Cast DC in 2026 as part of the newsroom expansion. She previously covered D.C. police and local public safety issues at The Washington Post. A native Hoosier and graduate of Indiana University, Emma has covered breaking news at the Tampa Bay Times, interned with Indianapolis Monthly magazine and worked with the national investigative team at USA TODAY. She loves living in D.C. because of the public transportation, the green spaces and the abundance of delicious local coffee shops.


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Emma Uber

Days before Jeffery Carroll was sworn in as the interim D.C. police chief in January, his soon-to-be second-in-command Andre Wright sent

an AI-generated video to his wife. The video, according to an internal report, showed Carroll puffing on a cigar and laughing while crowing, “The wicked witch is dead bitches. There’s a new sheriff in town.”

The message, sent from Wright’s department-issued cellphone, came amid the dramatic departure of former Chief Pamela Smith, who elevated Wright through the ranks and put him in charge of all of the department’s patrol operations. Wright and his wife, Inspector Natasha Wright, were among the 13 officials served termination papers last week in connection to the crime statistics scandal – but they had already been put on administrative leave months earlier, in March, for inappropriate text messages found on Wright’s work phone.

I reviewed an 18-page internal affairs synopsis of the investigation into Wright’s text messages with his wife, who works in the police department’s human resources department. The report shows that Wright repeatedly questioned crime classifications, solicited sex acts and derided colleagues and subordinates.

In one message, seemingly during a 9 a.m. meeting, Wright texted his wife, “This Big Tittie bitch can’t read.” In another, he appeared to reference a work trip as he wrote, “I’m going out of town with a fat ugly bitch, will be back tomorrow," followed by “I’m taking two midgets with me.” And

after a March 2025 shooting in which a man had been shot in the leg, Wright texted his wife to “make sure this stupid mother fucka didn’t shoot himself and is lying.”

The D.C. police department is in turmoil over a 554-page report outlining a pattern of manipulating data in ways that falsely made the city look safer. 

 and Congress and the Justice Department are investigating. The officials are all on administrative leave pending the results of the department's disciplinary process, during which they can appeal the decision.

But the text messages represent a different outrage — and one that, beyond its prurience, reveals a lot about the police department. A search of Wright’s phone as part of the crime statistics investigation yielded messages that suggest the department's issues extend beyond data classification. Rather than a coordinated conspiracy, the messages make clear that the police brass accused of manipulation are at war with one another as well.

The texts are also a stark departure from the preaching persona Wright has built for himself as de-facto second-in-command of the department. At Smith’s farewell ceremony in December, Wright delivered a speech comparing their relationship to Paul and Timothy's in the Bible. He at times preached or prayed during D.C. police meetings, according to three law enforcement officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private matters. But in light of surfaced messages, as one official put it, his conduct seems like “striking hypocrisy.”

“To hear the sanctimoniousness from Chief Wright and Natasha Wright who were at best unprofessional and at worst downright scandalous… it’s just remarkable,” said Pamela Keith, an attorney for a captain accused of crime data manipulation. “It’s indicative of a complete absence of moral compass.”

Andre and Natasha Wright did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A D.C. police spokesperson said the Wrights are on administrative leave, but cited pending internal matters and declined to answer further questions, including whether Wright’s messages were indicative of the police department’s culture.

D.C. police also declined to answer why the report is dated January 14, 2026, but the Wrights were not placed on leave until March.

Some of Wright’s messages discovered in January are also referenced in the 554-page internal affairs report on crime data manipulation 

. While investigators found that there was no evidence that Wright “specifically directed the misclassification of crimes on a large scale,” they pointed to some messages included in the January report to assert that “he was aware of, and supported, the practice.”

In one message, he sent his wife a screenshot of a section of the D.C. Code detailing the elements necessary to classify a crime as taking property without a right – a category investigators found was frequently abused to lower the number of reported thefts.

In another message, he reminded Natasha to ask a captain in the department about the classification. About a half-hour later, he texted her to follow up: “Have you been practicing? Did you reclassify that Theft?”

The internal investigations come after months of heightened scrutiny from President Donald Trump. Last summer, Trump took over the D.C. police force and cited out of control crime as justification. Critics pointed to the city’s plummeting crime rates, but Trump seized on long-circulated rumors that some police department managers regularly downgraded crime classifications to avoid being reprimanded by top brass.

The Justice Department and the House Oversight Committee conducted investigations, both of which railed against the leadership style of Smith and many of her inner circle. However, neither of the investigations identified a time when Smith or another leader explicitly ordered the misclassification of crime. Smith has denied wrongdoing.

This is not the first time Wright has found himself embroiled in controversy. In 2021, his ex-wife reported he was having an affair with a subordinate lieutenant: Natasha, his current wife. And former D.C. Police Sgt. Charlotte Djossou, who recently self-published a book about the “narcissistic culture” within the department, 

that she had a “consensual sexual relationship” (including threesomes) with Wright while he was her superior and still married to his first wife.

The report shows Wright sent Natasha two links to Djossou’s Instagram profile on Dec. 13, 2025, the same day the 21-year veteran of the department posted about a TV interview she did alleging department leadership had been cooking the books for years. Djossou filed a whistleblower lawsuit in 2020 alleging the department retaliated against her for speaking up, and the lawsuit was settled last year.

Wright also sent his wife links to a court filing and news articles about the ongoing lawsuit brought against the police department by Capt. Paul Hrebenak, who alleges that Wright and other senior leaders retaliated against him for taking parental leave as a gay man.

The Wrights also seemed to hold particular disdain for certain D.C. police leaders, including Cmdr. Michael Pulliam and Capt. Rachel Pulliam, who were also named in the crime data investigation.

Michael Pulliam was the first D.C. police official to be placed on administrative leave for allegedly downgrading crimes in May 2025. And both he and his wife were among the 13 officials served termination papers last week. In a lawsuit earlier this year, the couple claimed they are facing retaliation for pushing back against Smith and her inner circle, including Wright.

The month before Michael Pulliam’s suspension, Rachel Pulliam was abruptly transferred from the Youth and Family Engagement Division to midnights in the 7th District. She said this happened after she pushed back against then-chief Smith’s directive to rescind some detectives' approved time off.

Rachel Pulliam filed a whistleblower complaint, then Wright ordered Michael Pulliam to pack up her office. That prompted Michael Pulliam to file an equal employment opportunity complaint against Wright. A week later, he was put on leave.

Text messages surfaced in the January investigation show that Wright sent a photo of Michael Pulliam and other officials with the message, “He looks broken,” and, “He is fucked” on April 30 – the same week Pulliam filed a complain against Wright. Natasha responded with two laughing crying emojis.

In August, the report shows Natasha texted, “I just saw that liar Rachel.” The Wrights discussed seeing Rachel Pulliam with another police official, then said they pulled his internal investigation log numbers and “snitched” on him.

“They are royalty to the white boys… they all believe that we are in their way,” Wright texted.

Rachel Pulliam said seeing the texts was difficult, but also validated her feelings that she was being watched by the head of human resources and assistant chief.

“I felt the retaliation, I felt the hostility,” she said. “I felt like I was being gaslit into thinking that this wasn’t happening. And to see those text messages on a department phone so boldly targeting my husband and I after I made these protected disclosures… it was emotional.”

She said she was particularly disturbed by the fact that they appeared to open an investigation into a captain for speaking with her.

“That scares me because it sends this message to the rest of the department that not only should you not stand up for what’s right, but it might not just be your job, it could be everyone else’s around you.”

The most frequently discussed topic in the messages from the report by far – more than crime classifications, colleagues or Carroll – was sex.

In messages to his wife, Wright requests oral and anal sex, sends her old pictures of him and asks if she would have sex with “young Andre” and tells her she owes him “ghetto pussy” for shoveling snow out of two parking spaces.

Some of the messages become bizarre – a link to an Instagram video titled, “POV - You’re a Sassy Gay Recruit in the Academy Getting Pepper Sprayed,” and “Come suck on my toes, individually!!!!”

I would wager it’s the first time in D.C. police history that an internal affairs report has included a footnote explaining the term WAP.

An internal report shows ex-executive assistant chief Andre Wright repeatedly sent crude texts and mocked colleagues.

Inside the NSFW text messages that got a top D.C. police official put on leave

"Downright scandalous:" Inside the NSFW text messages that got a top D.C. police official put on leave

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The DC Dispatch

With Congress demanding internal documents and the police union gloating about the proposed sacking of 13 top officials, interim police chief

Jeffery Carroll met the press Tuesday, a day after he moved to clean house over manipulated crime data.

It made for quite a spectacle in a department that in recent years has faced leadership turnover and intensified federal scrutiny. Carroll opened by confirming the rumors: All 13 of the proposed firings are related to an internal investigation into crime data manipulation, he said.

He confirmed the restructuring of the department began yesterday with the shuttering of an office formerly led by the department’s second-in-command, as well as a series of transfers and promotions to fill the positions of officials under investigation. 

After news of the pending firings first broke in the Washington Post, I was the 

first to report the details of the department’s restructuring

 after obtaining internal communications sent Monday evening. The officials are all on administrative leave pending the results of the department's “trial board” disciplinary process, where they can appeal the decision.

But Carroll refused to disclose the findings of the internal investigation, citing personnel matters. That transparency seems pretty essential given that the alleged manipulation of crime statistics cuts to the basic question of whether Carroll’s department is trustworthy – and could serve as further reason for President Donald Trump to seize control in the District. Trump has zeroed in on long-standing complaints about crime misclassification, using it to justify his takeover of the D.C. police department and declaration of a crime emergency last summer even as D.C. crime rates fell.

Carroll also declined to answer why he was moving to dismiss top officers when even scathing Justice Department and House Oversight Committee reports haven’t actually identified any case of top brass ordering underclassification of crimes. (Those reports merely cited an overall toxic culture as the culprit for inaccurate stats).

And when asked whether D.C. police have heeded Republican Rep. James Comer’s 

public demands to hand over the investigation

, Carroll was vague, saying he is “in communication" with the House Oversight Committee chairman about the request.

But he was clear on one point: crime is still down in the District.

“We have made meaningful progress over the last three years in reducing crime,” he said. “Homicides, shootings and car jackings have fallen steadily since 2023.”

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D.C. began the year with its longest stretch without a homicide in decades and – even after a spate of killings in April – the homicide rate is down 42 percent compared to this time last year. And last year, D.C. already experienced its fewest slayings since 2017. Even crime statistic skeptics generally agree that these numbers are accurate – it’s hard to fudge the stats when there’s a dead body and a grieving family.

Carroll also said he still trusts the police department’s crime data and depends on it each morning to guide deployment decisions.

He also confirmed the details I reported yesterday on the departmental restructuring. Christopher Dorsey will replace Tatjana Savoy as Second District Commander and Nikki Lavenhouse will replace LaShay Makal as assistant chief of patrol services south. He said the commanders have “already hit the ground running” in their new roles.

The shuttered office, the Office of Patrol Operations, was established in 2024 by former chief Pamela Smith and had been led by executive assistant police chief Andre Wright. Wright’s name appeared multiple times in a draft Justice Department report on alleged crime statistics manipulation at the department. He had been placed on administrative leave earlier this year after an investigation surfaced inappropriate text messages on his work phone, according to two law enforcement officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

On Tuesday, both the House Oversight Committee and the D.C. police union gloated. In a scathing statement, Comer took credit for the pending terminations and railed against D.C. leaders for “running cover for corrupt MPD officials.” And Gregg Pemberton, president of the union, called the disciplinary actions long overdue.

“Justice is being served,” Pemberton said in a statement. “The command staff officials responsible for this betrayal must be held accountable, not just for the sake of the thousands of dedicated MPD officers they undermined, but for the residents of the District of Columbia who deserve honest leadership and real public safety. The corruption that endangered lives, eroded trust, and allowed shooters, robbers, and predators to evade justice cannot be tolerated.”

Jeffery Carroll also confirmed the restructuring of the department. 

Police Chief: 13 Top Officials Face Termination Amid Crime Stats Scandal 

Multiple high-ranking D.C. police leaders have been informed the department intends to fire them based on findings from an internal investigation into crime data manipulation, according to three police officials familiar with the matter.

The changes could constitute a sweeping restructuring of department leadership – one that was already underway Monday evening, when interim police chief Jeffery Carroll abolished the Office of Patrol Operations, effective immediately.

The office – established by former police chief Pamela Smith in Oct. 2024 to oversee all patrol operations – was run by executive assistant police chief Andre Wright. Widely considered second-in-command under Carroll, Wright’s name appeared multiple times in a draft Justice Department report on alleged crime statistic manipulation at the department. He had been placed on administrative leave earlier this year after an investigation surfaced inappropriate text messages on his work phone, according to two law enforcement officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

A D.C. police official said no one other than Wright would lose their job due to the abolishment of the office, and all functions are being moved to other bureaus.

But the shakeup doesn’t end with Wright. According to internal D.C. police communications I reviewed, officers received a message signed by Carroll just after 7 p.m. Monday advising them of five transfers and seven promotions. Among them, Christopher Dorsey will replace Tatjana Savoy, who is facing termination, as Second District Commander. And Nikki Lavenhouse will replace LaShay Makal, who is facing termination, as assistant chief of patrol services south. 

It’s not clear yet whether all of the firings are tied to allegations of cooking the books to make crime rates appear lower. Some officials – including assistant chiefs and commanders – were served termination papers, according to the officials. Others were informed of disciplinary measures. Those accused of misconduct will go through the department’s “trial board” disciplinary process, where they can appeal the decision.

The pending terminations come after months of heightened scrutiny from President Donald Trump, including probes into the police force from the Justice Department and the House Oversight Committee. The police union has publicly applauded the intervention and some officers voluntarily cooperated, seizing the opportunity to address long-standing concerns with leadership.

A D.C. police spokesperson declined to comment on Monday, saying he cannot discuss personnel matters or internal investigations.

At least some of the officials I spoke to told me it’s about time. A D.C. police officer described the sentiment of the department in one word: “finally.”

Another member of the department’s top brass said both the police union and rank-and-file officers are “very pleased someone is finally addressing this in a meaningful way.” He added that it has renewed many in the department’s faith in Carroll, who took the helm of the department after Smith resigned in December.

“It goes to show we’re not standing for any shenanigans,” the official said. “We have to protect the agency. We have to protect the city.”

Last summer, Trump took over the D.C. police force and cited out of control crime as justification. Critics pointed to the city’s plummeting crime rates, but Trump seized on long-circulated rumors that some police department managers regularly downgraded crime classifications to avoid being reprimanded by top brass.

As evidence, Trump pointed to Commander Michael Pulliam, who was placed on paid leave while under investigation for allegedly manipulating crime statistics in D.C. police’s Third District. He has denied wrongdoing.

The Justice Department and the House Oversight Committee conducted investigations, both of which railed against the leadership style of Smith and many of her inner circle.

However, neither of the investigations identified a time when Smith or another leader explicitly ordered the misclassification of crime. Instead, the Justice Department report cited a “culture of fear” that indirectly led officials to downplay crime rates in an attempt to dodge Smith’s wrath.

Smith has vehemently denied allegations that she ordered any manipulation of statistics.

House Oversight Committee Rep. James Comer, a Republican, wrote a letter last week demanding all the records from the police department’s internal investigation. 

House Oversight Republicans gloated at the news of the potential firings in a 

 Monday, claiming its letter "is already forcing action inside the MPD."

"Now they must release EVERY document from their internal investigation into manipulated crime data," the post read. "This isn't over. We're not stopping until the full truth is out."

The D.C. Office of the Inspector General also began a review of D.C. police crime data reporting in January. That review has not been released.

The changes could constitute a sweeping restructuring of department leadership.

Multiple D.C. Police Leaders Face Termination Over Crime Data Manipulation

Empower, the embattled ride-hailing service, will live another day. A judge ruled on Thursday that the company, which has been forbidden from vehicle-for-hire operations in the District, didn’t violate a court order by offering free rides in the city.

It’s the latest in a legal dispute between D.C. and the ride-share company that markets itself as a cheaper alternative to Uber and Lyft. The company has been operating in the District without registration since 2020. Empower and its CEO Joshua Sear have racked up $8.85 million in unpaid court fines – a total that increased $30,000 each day the company failed to comply with the 2024 order to stop operating as a private vehicle-for-hire company in D.C.

Last year, after it became clear fines weren’t an effective deterrent, Judge Shana Frost Matini told Sear he was heading to jail. Facing incarceration, he conceded – but the rides still didn’t stop.

Since then, Empower has tried a series of loopholes to remain in operation, from saying rides in D.C. are not subject to contracts between Empower and the driver to the latest strategy: offering rides for free.

Since no money is being exchanged for a service, Matini ruled that Empower has technically followed her previous order to stop doing business in D.C. until it registers with the city. But the D.C. Attorney General’s Office has said that this is another tactic for Empower to continue operating without regulation.

Is there really such thing as a free ride?

How do free rides actually work? Turns out – at least for me Thursday morning – they don’t.

As I headed from my D.C. apartment to court for the hearing, I tried to use the Empower app. Immediately, I was met with a message in bold: “If you want Empower to stay in DC, leave Kenyan McDuffie off your ballot!”

I entered my destination, D.C. Superior Court, and a message about a different D.C. politician appeared: “Mayor Bowser has banned Empower from facilitating drivers who work for themselves to provide for-hire transportation in DC. Your ride within the District cannot be for-hire if you wish for Empower to facilitate it. It must be free.”

Empower has taken its fight for survival in D.C. beyond the courtroom, organizing protests at the Wilson Building and waging public pressure campaigns on various D.C. politicians – the messages on its app being one prime example.

 last week, McDuffie said his daughter had received a death threat against him that referenced the ban on Empower. He said the company had warned him that if he did not agree to a meeting, they would tell customers not to rank him on their mayoral ballots.

D.C. police have arrested a 17-year-old boy in connection with the threat. In a statement Friday, Empower said the company had no association with the teen and called McDuffie’s suggestion that Empower targeted his family "absurd and defamatory.”

“[I]t's not surprising that Mr. McDuffie would view having to discuss his position on affordable transportation and the right of drivers to work for themselves, instead of for Uber, as a threat to his campaign,” the statement read.

On the app, I clicked past the message to a screen informing me that, for $0.00, a driver could pick me up in one minute. A free ride and hardly any wait? Sweet! But just seconds after I requested the ride it was cancelled. And yes, the cancellation was accompanied by another political message.

“Thanks to corrupt Uber-backed politicians like Kenyan McDuffie, Empower cannot facilitate the provision of for-hire rides within the District,” the message read. “Your ride within the District booked using Empower must be free, and there are no drivers currently available to provide you with a free ride.” (The D.C. Council – including McDuffie’s mayoral opponent Janeese Lewis George – has been unanimous in its votes on Empower).

After some more poking around on the app, I was offered three different ways to voice discontent with McDuffie but, alas, not a ride.

If I had been heading to court from Virginia or Maryland, things might have been different. As Sear explains it, it would have been considered two rides – one from my location to a point just outside the D.C. border, a second from this point to the courthouse. The first ride, conducted entirely outside of the District, would cost money. The second would be free.

Mia Bowden, an assistant chief at the D.C. Department of For-Hire Vehicles, testified that she tested the two-stop method on Wednesday by hailing six Empower rides that crossed between D.C. and Virginia or Maryland. Out of the six, she said only two drivers drove to the first stop. The rest went straight to the second, Bowden testified. And the fare for all six rides was calculated based on the total mileage of the trip, she said, including the portion of the trip inside the District.

For instance, when she booked an Empower trip from a Northeast D.C. Whole Foods to Pentagon City Mall, her driver first drove her to Long Bridge Aquatics and Fitness Center in Arlington as the free leg of the trip. But the 1.4 remaining miles cost $15.37 – an amount D.C. attorneys said was calculated on the total trip, not just the second leg. In other rides, she said, the driver didn’t even mention the first stop and drove her directly to her final destination.

Sear responded that drivers who do not operate using two separate stops are violating both Empower’s terms of service and the law, and that he will work to enforce the two-stop system. He blamed the fare calculation issue on a bug, acknowledging it was an error and saying he had engineers fix the issue overnight so that fare will be calculated exclusively on miles outside D.C.

“Obviously this makes us look not very good, I realize,” Sear said of the bug.

“We’re not trying to be cute,” he said in court Thursday. “I am doing everything I can to comply with the court’s order without destroying the lives of thousands of drivers.”

Lawyers for D.C. called the two-stop strategy “legal fiction” and in court filings earlier this week argued that the free rides were a “bait-and-switch tactic.”

Empower launched in 2019 and arrived in the District in 2020. Unlike other popular ride-share services like Uber and Lyft, Empower considers its customers to be the drivers, who pay a subscription fee for access to the reservation software, then get to set their own rates and keep all of the fare.

D.C.’s Department of For-Hire Vehicles issued a cease-and-desist order soon after Empower began operating in D.C., court records show, citing the company’s failure to register as a private sedan business and digital dispatch service. Registering would mean Empower would give 6 percent of its revenue to the city, as required of all ride-hailing services, as well as be subject to safety regulations such as providing commercial insurance and driver background checks.

In 2024, Matini ordered Empower to cease business operations in D.C. until the company registered itself, and the city and Empower have been locked in a legal battle since. Sear testified Empower has repeatedly tried to register with the city, but has been denied. The District has said the company would need to pay the millions of dollars in outstanding fines to register.

“We’re not trying to avoid registration, the District is trying to prevent us from registering,” Sear said in court Thursday.

Thursday’s ruling marked a win for Empower, but the company’s woes are far from over. Empower drivers in the D.C. area made about $1 million less last week than normal, Sear testified. “We are going to suffer a meaningful decrease in revenue because there are going to be drivers who no longer pay for our services,” he said.

Meanwhile, millions of dollars in unpaid fines continue to loom over the company. D.C. lawyers wrapped up the hearing by saying they would begin tabulating the District’s legal fees to add to Empower’s outstanding fines.

Beyond D.C., Empower continues to expand. The company is available in seven other areas, including New York City, Atlanta, Baltimore and Miami. Sear said Empower is not registered with the equivalent of D.C.’s Department of For-Hire Vehicles in any of those markets.

The embattled ride-share service can continue to offer free rides, a judge ruled yesterday, but the company and its CEO still owe nearly $9 million in fines.

The DC Dispatch

"Downright scandalous:" Inside the NSFW text messages that got a top D.C. police official put on leave

Police Chief: 13 Top Officials Face Termination Amid Crime Stats Scandal

Multiple D.C. Police Leaders Face Termination Over Crime Data Manipulation

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