OCEAN CITY — Over three months after two incidents on the Boardwalk involving alleged police brutality, a coalition of African-American leaders on Tuesday held a press conference at City Hall seeking an independent investigation.
The Caucus of African-American Leaders (CAAL) held the conference on Tuesday after the arrests of four African-American men in June. During those separate incidents, Ocean City police officers arrested multiple suspects after they allegedly failed to comply with orders to stop vaping on the Boardwalk in violation of the town’s smoking ordinance. In one instance caught on a cell phone video, one of the suspects is seen being kneed repeatedly by an officer. In another instance, a suspect is seen being tased by a police officer.
The videos went viral on social media and prompted state and local African-American leaders to call for an investigation. It’s important to note the videos only showed fractions of larger events on the Boardwalk that escalated when the individuals involved reportedly did not comply with officers’ orders.
Each of the individuals involved was arrested and charged with various offenses such as assault, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, obstructing and hindering and failure to obey a lawful order, for example. At least one of the suspects was scheduled to appear for trial on Tuesday, which prompted the CAAL press conference, but the trial was postponed until November.
In July, the CAAL and state and local NAACP branches had a Freedom Bus tour across the Eastern Shore that ended with a stop in Ocean City. CAAL and NAACP leaders met with Mayor Rick Meehan to call for an independent investigation into the incidents. On Tuesday, the CAAL leadership returned to Ocean City to call on the Maryland Attorney General’s Office to conduct an independent investigation. CAAL leaders cited recently-passed state legislation requiring an independent investigation during cases of alleged police brutality.
Its like there’s a never ending flow of resources.
Mo money Mo money Mo money!
As these instances become the norm – City Hall is gonna have to increase the legal team!
When that request comes in, one comment from City Hall will be – Where’s the Beef?
Lather/Rinse/Repeat!
Save time and money by one simple rule.
DONT COMIT A CRIME AND COMPLY AND OBEY IF YOUR CAUGHT. no accountability from the youth of today they think they can do what the want when the want and no one is to question them. Maybe they need some better home training.
They’re right to look into it. Every year OCPD hires tons of seasonal cops and sends them out on the street after a few measly weeks if training. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.
It is acknowledged that there is much more to the video of the events that occurred than most know exists. Now, ‘CAAL’ should be pretty careful here. You can bet that if said video truly exists, and finds its way into court…..well, that could be quite the sticky wicket – While CALL and the defendants go to court hoping to walk away with a nice juicy settlement, they could very well have something quite the opposite occur. Then imagine what things could potentially look like on social media. CAAL protesting and making quite the big to do, only to have the whole thing blow up in their faces worse than a Wiley E. Coyote ACME rocket. Get your popcorn folks – this will be fun to watch.
If people only knew how badly these kids acted, they would praise the police for their restraint. All that people see is the tail end of a video, not the events leading up to it… like the violence the kids start, the threats to kill the police. Teach your children to respect others instead of that they are entitled to do whatever they want, and things would be much better!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again now – the police in Ocean City could teach a thing or two to the North Korean police.
I was told by an attorney in Baltimore that it’s well-known among attorneys across the state (and beyond) that there are NO civil rights in that town, that police flagrantly (and without regard for any law) consistently violate state and federal laws, and the judges will, 100% of the time, defend and uphold their actions.
I have personally seen examples of these wanna-be Gestapo agents doing things that are off-the-charts illegal.
And apparently, there is no height requirements for the police either. I saw one cop that couldn’t have been more than 5’4″ and he was wearing those boots with the high heel sole.
By himself, he couldn’t stop a fight between two preteen girls and they give him a GUN?? I think the gun weighed more than he did….
I believe his name was “Rodriguez”….and he was a bad-ass dude on his bike….
These NAACP people are wasting their time.
the scum and oc deserve each other since all they want to do is rip people off! they are just fighting over the same dollar!
So McLain – you support the inquiry into the “gestapo agents”?
I said “wanna-be” Gestapo agents.
And an “investigation” would be a joke, like “citizen input” meetings.
A waste of time.
Further, I don’t advocate any of the stupid activities I’ve seen out-of-towners do.
But, I also don’t advocate many of the gestapo-like responses I’ve seen done by the police.
Let the “investigations” begin….lol…the police will STILL act like they are untouchable masters of “We, the People” and are not accountable for ANYTHING they do in the once friendly and family oriented Ocean City.
That’s not opinion, either.