OP Restaurant Fire
OCEAN PINES — One worker was injured in a restaurant fire in Ocean Pines mid-morning last Thursday.
Around 11:20 a.m. last Thursday, the Ocean Pines, Berlin, Showell and Bishopville Volunteer fire companies responded to a reported commercial structure fire at Manklin Creek Road near Ocean Pines. First-arriving units discovered a working fire in the single-story commercial building in a space occupied by the Plaza Tapatia restaurant.
The fire was quickly brought under control, but one employee suffered burn injuries and was treated on the scene by Ocean Pines EMS and was later flown by aviation to Christiana Hospital. The employee’s condition has not been made public. The fire was contained to the unit of origin by the fire service and the activation of the sprinkler system. The cause of the fire has been listed as accidental and the investigation is closed.
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Resort Restaurant Burglarized
OCEAN CITY — A resort restaurant was burglarized last weekend and the investigation is ongoing.
Around 10 a.m. last Sunday, Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officers responded to the Ripieno’s restaurant after the staff reported a burglary had occurred sometime overnight Saturday. OCPD detectives were actively investigating the burglary this week and were following several leads. The investigation is ongoing and no more information was available as of mid-week.
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‘Squash’ Ends Up In Dumpster
OCEAN CITY — A Salisbury man was arrested on assault and other charges last week after allegedly striking his girlfriend on a resort hotel balcony and then jumping from the third-floor balcony into a dumpster to avoid police.
Around 7:20 p.m. last Thursday, an Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer responded to a hotel at 43rd Street for a reported assault that had already occurred. Upon arrival, the officer met with a witness who told police he was sitting on the balcony of his nearby condo when he observed a man and woman having an argument on a hotel balcony. The witness told police he observed the male strike the female multiple times with an open hand.
The OCPD officers met with the hotel staff to get a layout of the hotel and determine from which unit’s balcony the alleged assault occurred. After determining the location, OCPD officers knocked on the unit’s door. The female victim answered the door, came out into the hallway and immediately closed the door behind her, telling the officers her boyfriend was asleep.
The victim, who appeared upset, told police she came out of the room without a key card, so the officers could not go in and check on the sleeping boyfriend. A short time later, Ocean City Communications advised a male had jumped from the third-floor balcony at the hotel where the alleged incident occurred.
The same witness who had reported the incident initially said a male had run to the north side of the building and jumped from the third floor into a dumpster on 44th Street OCPD officers located the suspect, later identified as Edward Johnson, 30, of Salisbury, stumbling while walking away from the dumpster.
When asked if he needed medical assistance, Johnson replied no, according to police reports. When asked why he jumped from the third floor into the dumpster, Johnson said it was because he was afraid of police, according to police reports.
When police questioned the victim, she told police she had been dating Johnson for about a month, but didn’t know his name, stating she only knew him by his nickname “Squash.”
The victim told police she worked with Johnson at an Ocean City business and arranged to stay for one night at the hotel room. The victim told police she and Johnson had planned to go to the movies and took a bus to the north-end movie theater, but his credit card got declined, which is when the fight started.
Now back at the hotel, the victim told police she argued with Johnson on the balcony and he allegedly struck her twice in the left ear with an open hand, causing her to fall to the ground. When it became apparent the police had been called, Bryant told the victim to go in the bathroom and clean herself up before OCPD officers arrived. Based on the evidence and testimony, Johnson was arrested and charged with second-degree assault.
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Beer Bottle Assault
OCEAN CITY — An Ocean City man was arrested on assault charges last weekend after allegedly cracking another man over the head with a beer bottle.
Around 3:30 a.m. last Sunday, an Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer responded to a convenience store at North Division Street for a reported assault that had already occurred. Upon arrival, OCPD officers met with a male victim who had blood pouring from lacerations on the left side of his head and shards of brown glass dropping off his clothing, according to police reports.
The victim told police a suspect, later identified as Scott Bryant, 61, of Ocean City, with whom the OCPD is familiar from previous run-ins with law enforcement, had hit him in the head with a beer bottle at the comfort station at Caroline Street about 30 minutes earlier. OCPD officers responded to Caroline Street and the Boardwalk and found Bryant sleeping on a bench near the south side of the comfort station.
According to police reports, the OCPD officer also observed numerous drops and smears of blood all over the ground and a trail of blood leading away from the comfort station. The officer also observed multiple pieces of broken glass from a National Bohemian beer bottle on the ground and on the beach nearby.
The officer wakened Bryant, who initially denied anything other than drinking and sleeping. When questioned further, Bryant told police he had given the victim $10 to go to a nearby bar and buy a bottle of Bourbon whiskey. Bryant told the officers Tyler returned without the whiskey, but an empty liquor bottle of the type Bryant described earlier was on the bench nearby.
Bryant admitted getting into an altercation with the victim and that each combatant had “popped” the other. When questioned again about why there was broken glass and blood all over the ground, Bryant reportedly told police “I flipped and script it.”
When asked what he meant by that, Bryant told police he took the bottle from the victim and struck him in the head with it, using his military training, according to police reports. Bryant then advised other officers on the scene to lock him up. Based on the evidence and testimony, Bryant was charged with second-degree assault.
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Theft, Assault Charges
OCEAN CITY — A Laurel, Del. woman was arrested on assault and other charges last weekend after first allegedly fighting with her boyfriend and later scrapping with cops.
Around 1 a.m. last Sunday, Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officers responded to a hotel at 29th Street for a report from a manager about fighting and shouting coming from one of the rooms. An employee told police there had been several complaints about the noise and fighting at a fourth-floor room.
The OCPD officer knocked on the door of the unit in question and identified the woman who answered as Jamie Cecil, 33, of Laurel, Del. According to police, Cecil looked at the officer for a moment and then told police “take this [expletive deleted] to jail because that is my blood all over his shirt,” while pointing at a man in the room.
The officer then noticed a male walking toward him in a calm, slow manner. The officer asked the man to wait outside the room in the hallway while he waited for backup units to arrive. In the meantime, Cecil continued to shout expletives, saying things like “take his [expletive deleted] to jail.”
The officer continued to talk to Cecil, who had no visible injuries. She did, however, tilt her head back and showed the officer what appeared to be dried blood around her nostril. There was also dried blood on a hand towel in the bathroom and it appeared Cecil had attempted to clean herself. Cecil reportedly told police she had tried to stop the male from leaving the room because she believed he was going to smoke crack cocaine.
Cecil told police the couple had been drinking at a downtown bar and when they left, they could not find their vehicle, so they decided to walk back to the hotel. The male told police he had simply tried to leave the room, but Cecil was preventing him from leaving. The male told police he even gave Cecil over $450 in an attempt to calm her down. The male said he did cause Cecil’s nose to bleed, but that he was only trying to get her to leave him alone.
OCPD officers viewed surveillance footage of the entire incident and soon learned Cecil was the primary aggressor. The footage showed the male attempting to leave but Cecil continued to get out in front of him. At one point, the male was trying to get on an elevator, but Cecil can be seen following behind him and repeatedly striking him in the head, according to police reports. It was at that point the male jabbed Cecil in the nose causing her nose to bleed.
According to police reports, Cecil was clearly the aggressor in the incident and she was arrested and charged with assault. During the arrest process, she allegedly attempted to clamp down on the officer’s hand and attempted to bite him and additional assault charges were added. When Cecil did not turn over the victim’s $450, she was charged with theft as well. The victim ultimately got his $450 back, which he told police was the money he brought to Ocean City for vacation.
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Guilty Of Endangerment
OCEAN CITY — A Mechanicsville, Md. Man, arrested in March on intoxicated endangerment charges after stumbling while intoxicated into traffic on Baltimore Avenue, pleaded guilty this week and was sentenced to 90 days, all of which was suspended.
Around 2:30 a.m. on March 16, Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officers were patrolling in the area of North Division Street and Baltimore Avenue when they heard loud shouting from nearby. The officers then observed a suspect later identified as Joseph Huffman, 22, of Mechanicsville, stumbling north on Baltimore Avenue.
The officers observed as Huffman lurched off the sidewalk and fell into the travel lanes of Baltimore Avenue and into the path of an oncoming sedan. The sedan slammed on its brakes in order to avoid hitting Huffman. The OCPD officers approached Huffman and got him out of the street and determined he was intoxicated. Huffman was arrested and charged with intoxicated endangerment and a noise violation because the officers heard him shouting from at least 50 feet away. This week, Hoffman pleaded guilty to intoxicated endangerment and was sentenced to 90 days, which was then suspended. He was also placed on probation for 18 months.