Beware, there’s a vigilante pothole filler on the loose, and he’s strewing gravel all over D.C. streets. If you bicycle, skateboard, or rollerblade, keep your eyes open and your first aid kit handy.

I was on my bike yesterday, coming up P Street to its intersection with 14th Street NW. There was no cross traffic on 14th Street, but the light was red. No matter, I thought, until I saw a cop parked ahead of me. I didn’t want to get a ticket (D.C. police are now writing tickets to cyclists and pedestrians who don’t follow traffic laws) so I swerved right to make a somewhat legal turn on red. I rode over a pothole.

I’ve ridden over innumerable potholes with the worst effect being a slightly more misshapen wheel, but the pothole I rode over yesterday was filled with loose gravel, and my skinny road tire nearly slid out from under me.

I immediately blamed Fenty. What with his potholes-fixed-in-48-hours aspirations, I figured it was some idiotic attempt at staying true to his word. But it turned out it wasn’t his doing. I called the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), related the incident, and asked if the city filled potholes with loose gravel. “We fill potholes the right way, I was told.

DDOT does not fill potholes with loose gravel because it is dangerous. It is dangerous for bicyclists and even more dangerous for people on skateboards, scooters, or rollerblades, who will fall face first to the pavement if even a single piece of gravel lodges under their wheels. Also, a car driving over loose gravel can launch the little rocks at passersby or other cars.

So who, then, filled the pothole? The man I spoke to at DDOT suggested it might have been a nearby resident or construction crew thinking it to be a good deed. I surveyed the block for suspects, fixing my gaze on a hardware store down the street. The shaggy haired clerk at the checkout counter did not know anything about the gravel, and he said that the store only sold pea gravel, which I know is smooth and was not the gravel in the pothole. We discussed the possibility that it might have been the construction workers who built the condos on the corner, but they finished that months ago and haven’t been back since.

I left without an answer and biked home, noticing two other potholes filled with loose gravel on the way—one farther down P Street and one on R Street between 13th and 14th streets.

If you’re a vigilante pothole filler, please stop. You have good intentions, but next time let DDOT take care of it. You can call them at (202) 727-1000 or file a request online using the Service Request Center.