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Idaho National Guard troops pinned and detained Purple Heart veteran Anna King outside her D.C. home without a warrant

On May 8, 2026, three federalized Idaho National Guard members detained Anna King, a retired Army captain and Purple Heart recipient, outside her Washington, D.C. home, pinning her to the ground, kneeling on her back, and handcuffing her without producing a warrant or explaining the legal basis. King, who had criticized the National Guard's deployment in the city with signs on her patio, suffered wrist injuries that later required surgery. She was never charged over the prior incident the guardsmen cited to justify the stop, though D.C. prosecutors separately charged her with two misdemeanor counts of assaulting an officer for her resistance during the May 8 encounter, a charge she disputes and has pleaded not guilty to.

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Washington, D.C.

Abuses documented

Actors

  • Idaho National Guard (federalized, D.C. Joint Task Force)

On May 8, 2026, three National Guard members from the federalized Idaho contingent of the D.C. Joint Task Force detained Anna King, a 44-year-old Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient, on the patio of her Truxton Circle apartment in Washington, D.C. The guardsmen walked through her gate around 7 p.m. and announced she was being detained without producing a warrant or explaining the legal basis, according to an administrative claim later filed on her behalf. When King told the troops they had no authority to detain her and moved toward her door, the guardsmen blocked her, then surrounded her, wrestled her to the ground, kneeled on her back, and handcuffed her with plastic zip ties pulled tight enough to cut off circulation to her hands for roughly 17 minutes. D.C. police officers who arrived about 15 minutes later replaced the plastic cuffs with looser metal ones; King's wrist injuries later required surgery.

King had been a vocal critic of the National Guard deployment in Washington, displaying signs on her patio reading "Occupation: Troops Out" and "National Guard Stop Being So Embarrassing." Guardsmen deployed under the D.C. Joint Task Force may patrol and detain but are not authorized to make arrests, so they must call local police to complete one. The guardsmen told D.C. police they had approached King because she had thrown an unknown liquid at guardsmen two days earlier, an allegation she was never charged with; D.C. prosecutors separately charged King with two misdemeanor counts of assaulting a law-enforcement officer, accusing her of punching and kicking guardsmen during the May 8 encounter and causing what court filings described as "minor pain." King has pleaded not guilty, and video of the encounter does not clearly show her striking any of the guardsmen.

Updates

2026-07-29 — ACLU filed $3 million FTCA claim against Idaho National Guard [1]

On July 29, 2026, the ACLU of D.C. and the law firm Levy Firestone Muse filed a $3 million Federal Tort Claims Act claim against the U.S. Department of Defense and the Idaho National Guard on King's behalf, one of 54 coordinated administrative FTCA claims filed by ACLU affiliates in 17 states and Washington, D.C. over conduct during the administration's domestic National Guard deployments. A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment, citing a policy against discussing pending litigation.

Why we recorded this

Federal troops deployed for civilian policing are bound by the same proportionality and lawful-authority limits as police, and detaining someone without a warrant or stated legal basis violates due process. On May 8, 2026, three federalized Idaho National Guard members detained Anna King, an Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient, on her own Washington, D.C. patio without a warrant, pinned her to the ground, and handcuffed her so tightly that she later required wrist surgery, after she had publicly criticized the National Guard deployment. This record documents federal armed forces used to physically restrain and injure a civilian who had been protesting that same deployment.

Sources

  1. Decorated Veteran Assaulted by National Guard Troops in D.C. Files Legal Claim to Challenge Abuse — ACLU of D.C. primary accessed July 30, 2026
  2. Woman files $3 million claim against Idaho National Guard for detaining her in D.C. — Idaho Capital Sun primary accessed July 30, 2026
  3. Veteran Says Violent Confrontation with National Guard Led to Lasting Injuries — City Cast DC investigative accessed July 30, 2026
  4. Video shows National Guard members detaining woman. Here's what we know — Snopes investigative accessed July 30, 2026
  5. A veteran was detained by the National Guard in her front yard. Now she's suing — NPR investigative accessed August 4, 2026

See also