The popular training discipline Parkour recently landed on the rooftops of Georgetown -- to one couple's surprise, but not so much the surprise of police.
When Georgetown resident Shelley Clark's cat raced into the house looking over its shoulder, she went outside to inspect.
"I look up expecting to see a hawk or something, and there's two faces peering over the edge of the roof over here of my neighbor's house," she said.
She didn't know what to think.
"You don't want people running around on your roofs," Clark said. "These are historic houses. I have an historic roof just because it's really old and fragile."
Clark's partner, Andy Leddy, confronted the guys in an alley.
"They quickly admitted that they were just looking for a friend and that what they were doing was free running, which is running around on buildings and so forth, and I said, 'That's really not the best place to be doing this,'" Leddy said.
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Free running or roof running is also a component of Parkour, a training program involving moving quickly and efficiently by jumping, vaulting and climbing. It's a discipline practiced by many contestants on the show "American Ninja Warrior."
Clark and Leddy called police, and officers told them they are aware of the behavior and it's been happening more frequently.
D.C. police said if you see anyone on a roof who doesn't belong there, immediately call police. Anyone caught doing it could face charges.
"I figure if protective service doesn't get them," Clark said, "some combination of Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton will."
