Dystopian moment terrified man is chased down by pack of smirking teenagers in crime-ridden Washington DC before being beaten up

The dystopian moment a pack of teens chased down a terrified man on the streets of Washington DC has been caught on camera. 

A motorist shared his dashcam footage of the feral incident outside a riverside apartment block at Buzzard Point in the south of the city on Monday night. 

The 16-second clip shows a man in shorts and t-shirt sprinting down the street between two parked cars, with three teenagers tailing him at around 11.30pm. 

He looks over his shoulder just in time for a fourth teen to appear from his right side and take a running swipe at him. 

The man puts his hands in the air to defend himself and keeps running as the fourth teen hurtles out of view. 

The victim then sprints directly in front of the dashcam and appears to get away from three of the teens, who come to a halt right in front of the car. 

But one, wearing a white Nike t-shirt and a drawstring bag on his back, keeps charging at the man out of view as the others watch and smirk. 

Two hang back and watch from a distance, while one in a black jacket with the hood up surveys the situation from directly in front of the dashcam. 

The out-of-shot teen then races back looking jubilant, and they appear to celebrate before all four disappear into the night. 

Nick Baker, who shared the dashcam footage on X, appealed to the alleged victim.

'If the gentleman being chased sees this and needs the raw footage for a police report, please let me know,' he wrote on X. 

'I think it's important that everyone sees these things are going on,' Baker added while talking to Fox5.

'Such young people are the perpetrators so we can't be too loose on crime. We have to have some standards.'

Speaking about the perpetrators, he added: 'They’re young enough that they can improve, learn that what they’re doing is wrong so I hope that being called out for it will be a wake-up call to them.'

DC police said the victim did not want to file a report, so they did their own write-up after reviewing the footage. 

It comes amid a wave of rising crime in Washington over the last few years. Violent crime rocketed in 2023 - with armed robberies up 67 percent.

And while murder incidences decreased in most major US cities last year, the nation's capital was ravaged by the highest number in 25 years.  

There were 274 homicides in Washington last year - a 50 percent increase since 2015, according to police figures.