When his car got caught in the middle of a snowball fight over the weekend, a D.C. cop did what came naturally. Nope, the off-duty officer did not join in the fun with childlike abandon. He whipped out his pistol and pointed it at people.

Witnesses say the detective's huge red Hummer was pelted during a mass snowball fight in Washington that had been arranged on Facebook and Twitter. Perhaps misconstruing the effect that packed snow would have on his re-purposed-tank of a car, the cop broke up the fight with his government-issued gun. Massive bah humbug.

Keep reading for footage and more.

Amazingly this didn't deter some brave (or should that be daft?) snowballers from continuing their powdery assault -- even as the gun-toting man identified himself as a cop and dared them to "throw another snowball."

Slightly more understanding officers were called to the scene as the crowd of around 200 people hollered chants including "No War, But Snowball War" and the soon to be classic "You don't bring a gun to a snowball fight!"

D.C. police say they are investigating the incident.
For more images head here. Footage below...


Further footage -- this time with colorful, NSFW language ...