WEST OCEAN CITY – A Berlin man was arrested on first-degree assault and other charges last weekend after allegedly running into a Maryland State Police trooper attempting to arrest another suspect, a local juvenile who was also charged later this week in the incident.
Around 8:15 p.m. last Saturday, Maryland State Police troopers responded to Route 611 in West Ocean City for a reported loud party at a residence in the area. Upon arrival, troopers observed a number of individuals fleeing the residence on foot. Trooper Jason Grozier was attempting to place one of the fleeing individuals under arrest in the parking lot of the Marlin Market shopping center when the male suspect fled on foot toward Sunset Ave.
The trooper caught the suspect, later identified as a 17-year-old male juvenile from Ocean City, in the shopping center parking lot, but the suspect resisted arrest and allegedly assaulted the officer. At that time, according to police reports, a vehicle came up from behind and struck the trooper from the rear on his right side, throwing him into the air and causing him to land on Sunset Ave. near the entrance to the parking lot.
The juvenile who the trooper was attempting to arrest was able to flee on foot and took off running down Sunset Ave., according to police reports. Meanwhile, according to the trooper’s statement, the vehicle, a 1992 Acura, stopped near him and the occupants, along with the occupants of a second vehicle behind the first, exited and began to taunt and yell at the trooper who had just been struck.
According to police reports, the taunting and actions of the suspects led Grozier to believe the driver of the Acura struck him intentionally. Grozier said in police reports the actions of the suspects placed him in fear he would suffer further injury, so he pulled his service pistol from its holster. Grozier said when the suspects saw the officer had drawn his gun, they got back in their vehicles and fled the area.
Grozier was transported to Atlantic General Hospital where he was treated for non-life threatening injuries. Another trooper inspected Grozier’s belt and radio and other equipment and found fresh, deep scratches consistent with the description of the incident.
A description of the Acura was given to local law enforcement agencies and around 10:30 p.m., or over two hours after the initial incident, a Maryland State Police trooper located the vehicle in the parking lot of the Wawa convenience store on Route 50. The driver of the vehicle was identified as Waldon Isamu Remington III, 20, of Berlin.
A trooper from the original scene responded to the Wawa and inspected the vehicle, finding fresh scrapes and scratches on the Acura’s driver’s side front quarter panel consistent with the damages to Grozier’s equipment. The trooper took a cell phone picture of the vehicle and sent it to troopers who went with Grozier to AGH. Grozier identified the Acura as the vehicle that allegedly struck him while he was attempting to make an arrest.
The vehicle was seized and Remington was taken into custody and transported to the MSP Berlin barrack. Meanwhile, Grozier was released from AGH and returned to the Berlin barrack where he positively identified Remington as the driver of the vehicle that allegedly struck him intentionally.
Remington was charged with first- and second-degree assault, second-degree assault on a law enforcement officer, reckless endangerment and second-degree escape. Initially, he was ordered held without bond, but during a bail review hearing on Wednesday, his bond was set at $250,000. He remained in custody as of yesterday.
Later in the week on Wednesday, the juvenile whom Grozier was attempting to take into custody when he was struck was identified and located by the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation (WCBI) and was taken into custody. The juvenile, a 17-year-old from Ocean City, has also been charged with second-degree assault, second-degree assault on a law enforcement officer, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, obstructing and hindering and second-degree escape. The juvenile was turned over to the Department of Juvenile Justice and was being held at the agency’s detention facility in Salisbury.
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with additional information about the incident is urged to contact WCBI at 410-352-3476, or the Maryland State Police at 410-641-3101.