WASHINGTON — A federal judge ruled Thursday that police in the nation’s capital illegally seized a gun from a man they stopped outside a laundromat, blasting the officers’ account as unreliable and sharply criticizing Justice Department prosecutors for relying on testimony from an officer who has been discredited by other judges.

The ruling comes at a moment when policing in Washington, D.C., is under an extraordinary spotlight, with the city grappling with rising public scrutiny of officer misconduct and the Trump administration directing a surge of federal law enforcement resources into the district earlier this year.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes’ decision goes beyond the particulars of the May arrest. She chided prosecutors for putting on the stand an officer whose credibility has be

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