Christopher Barry "Feeling Fantabulous" After Alleged Bank Altercation

Three days after he allegedly had a temper tantrum at a Chinatown bank, Christopher Barry writes on Facebook that he is continuing his campaign for his father’s old DC Council seat. Barry, 34, writes on his Facebook page that he “learned from my father a long time ago not to get bogged down and deterred by sensationalism and the frivolous.” He also notes that he is “feeling fantabulous,” pairing the emotion with a smiley face.

Barry’s father, of course, is the late Marion Barry, whose death last November created a vacancy in Ward 8. The younger Barry announced last week that he will try to get on the ballot for an April 28 special election, running under his legal name, Marion Christopher Barry. His campaign website and logo refer to him as Marion C. Barry, with the slogan “The Legacy Continues.”

According to a police report made public Wednesday, Barry allegedly started an altercation with employees at a PNC Bank branch in Chinatown after being told he could not make a withdrawl because his account was overdrawn. Barry allegedly reacted by threatening the teller.

“You always give me a hard time,” he said, according to police. “I’m going to have someone waiting for you when you get off, you bitch.”

The report also alleges that Barry threw a trash can over the teller’s protective glass barrier, breaking a security camera. No charges or arrests have been made in the incident.

Barry does not explicitly mention Tuesday’s events in his Facebook post, but he does refer to the public scrutiny his family has existed in for decades and his own past legal troubles. He was sentenced to 18 months probation in 2011 on multiple drug charges, and pleaded guilty last year to drunk driving.

Barry is scheduled to continue campaigning through the weekend. According to his post, he is attending a ceremony at the St. Elizabeths Hospital East Campus honoring Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders, including his father. He will also be marching as the grand marshal in Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade.

Find Benjamin Freed on Twitter at @brfreed.

Benjamin Freed

Staff Writer

Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.