Ocean City Mayor Vows Against A Repeat Of Unofficial Car Show That Caused Chaos Downtown
OCEAN CITY, MD. (WJZ) — Ocean City officials are troubled by this weekend's H20i chaos in the downtown area after several police officers were injured from being hit by flying rocks and bottles while trying to break up a large crowd Saturday night.
Ocean City Police said the crowd was 200 people large and had all gathered in the area of 13th Street and Baltimore Avenue as part of the H20i car show and were being disorderly.
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Mayor Rick Meehan expressed his concern and outrage on Facebook earlier Sunday in response to the event.
"What took place this past weekend in Ocean City can never happen again. This group came to town with the sole purpose to raise havoc in our community, to disrupt our lives and defy law enforcement. They placed our town, as well as our citizens and visitors, under siege and in danger which is unacceptable under any circumstances. Our town government, citizens, property owners and businesses must join together as one voice to take whatever action is necessary to stop this group from returning. This isn't about just one weekend this is about our future.
I cannot say enough about the men and women of the Ocean City Police Department, the Worcester County Sheriff's Office, the Maryland State Police, Maryland Natural Resources Police, Maryland Transportation Police and the other allied agencies that were here this weekend. They went far beyond the call of duty in their attempts to enforce the law and to protect our community while at the same time placing themselves in harm's way.
The Mayor and City Council must immediately begin working with Police Chief Buzzuro, City Manager Doug Miller and State Agencies to put a plan in place to stop this chaos. All potential actions should be considered. This includes, but should not be limited to, declaring a State of Emergency. I plan to speak with the Governor this week to discuss this in detail and ask for his assistance.
We cannot let what happened in Ocean City this weekend define us as a community. This must stop and it must stop now."
An unspecified number of officers were hit, but none were seriously hurt or needed medical attention, an Ocean City Police Department spokesperson said Saturday.
No arrests or citations were made in the incident, police said, though a number of citations have been given out over the weekend due to the unsanctioned event, mainly for disorderly conduct and city ordinance violations.
