Multiple Charges For Local Man
OCEAN CITY — A local man was arrested on numerous charges last weekend after allegedly scrapping with a group of people on the sidewalk in the midtown area and pulling a knife on them.
Around 11:10 p.m. last Saturday, an Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer patrolling in the area of 59th Street observed a suspect, later identified as Justin Kizee, 40, of Ocean City, stumbling around and talking to a group of people on the sidewalk. One of the individuals from the group saw the officer and told him Kizee was intoxicated, and that he was bothering, attempting to fight them and refusing to leave them alone, according to police reports.
Kizee allegedly threw a glass bottle onto Coastal Highway toward the officer’s police vehicle and the bottle shattered in the roadway, according to police reports. The area was crowded with pedestrian and vehicular traffic, according to police reports. The officer reportedly ordered Kizee to sit on the curb, but he refused.
As Kizee attempted to walk away from the group and the officer, he reportedly shouted expletives and slurs in their direction, according to police reports. He then reportedly picked up a bicycle and attempted to ride away, but had difficulty getting onto the bicycle because of his level of intoxication, according to police reports. When he was ordered to sit down on the curb again, Kizee reportedly sat down and leaned on a pole when he saw the officer’s backups arriving on the scene.
When asked if he had been drinking, Kizee reportedly told the officer he just drank a bottle of beer, which he threw in the direction of the police cruiser. However, the glass bottle that Kizee threw and shattered near the police cruiser was a 750ml bottle of wine, according to police reports.
OCPD officers interviewed members of the group Kizee had allegedly been harassing. One witness told officers Kizee was threatening him and other members of the group and attempting to fight them. The witness told police at one point, Kizee pulled out a folding knife from his pocket, opened it and held in front of the witness.
Another witness told officer Kizee pulled out the knife and waved at he and his friends, threatening them with it. The witness also told the officers Kizee verbally attacked them and threw a bottle at them, according to police reports.
Kizee was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct, malicious destruction of property, second-degree assault and littering. He was also charged with driving under the influence and driving while impaired for allegedly riding the bicycle while intoxicated.
During a search of his person, officers located a folding knife in his pocket. They also located a pack of oatmeal cookies he had allegedly stolen from a nearby convenience store.
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Punched Vehicle, Then Passenger
OCEAN CITY — A Philadelphia man was arrested last weekend after allegedly banging on the hood of a car attempting to park at a downtown municipal lot and then punching the passenger who got out of the vehicle.
Around 9:20 p.m. last Sunday, an Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer patrolling in the downtown area was approached by a citizen reporting an issue going on in the municipal parking lot at Worcester Street. As the officer approached the lot, he observed two males in distress. Another witness told the officer he just observed a suspect attack one of the victims’ vehicle, and then attack the vehicle’s passenger when he got out of his vehicle, according to police reports.
The victim told the officer he was attempting to park his vehicle when the suspect, identified as Carlos Torres, Sr., 34, started walking in front of his vehicle. The victim told police Torres was attempting to stop him from parking in order to save a spot for his friend, according to police reports. The victim said Torres then began banging on the hood of his car multiple times, causing damage, according to police reports.
When the passenger got out of the vehicle, Torres quickly approached him and began throwing punches at his face, according to police reports. The officer observed damage to the hood of the victim’s vehicle including a dent the size of a human fist, according to police reports. Torres was arrested and charged with second-degree assault and malicious destruction of property.
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Assault, Indecent Arrest
OCEAN CITY — A Silver Spring, Md. man was arrested last weekend after first allegedly punching another man in a midtown nightclub and then urinating in a trash can in front of bar security.
Around 1:25 a.m. last Saturday, Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officers responded to a midtown nightclub for a reported assault. Upon arrival, officers located a male victim who was holding an ice pack to the left side of his face. The victim told officers a suspect later identified as Jeffery Sylvester, 22, had approached him unprovoked and began yelling at him and spitting in his face, according to police reports.
The victim reportedly told police he made attempts to get away from Sylvester, but the suspect came up to him and punched him in the face with a closed fist. The victim told officers he did not know Sylvester and had no interaction with him prior to the alleged assault.
OCPD officers spoke to two nightclub security guards, who told police they observed Sylvester walk out of the front gates of the nightclub. They both told the officer they observed Sylvester walk up to a trashcan and begin urinating in it right in front of them. At that point, Sylvester was arrested for second-degree assault and indecent exposure for exposing himself to the security personnel, according to police reports.
While being escorted in handcuffs to a transport van, Sylvester reportedly refused to walk and carry his own weight, according to police reports. He dropped to the ground and refused to stand up. When officers attempted to physically lift him up to get him in the transport van, he reportedly twisted his arms and attempted to prevent officers from grabbing him and resisting arrest charges were tacked on.
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Malicious Destruction Charges
OCEAN CITY — A Salisbury man was arrested on malicious destruction of property charges last weekend after allegedly kicking cars and breaking a railing in the downtown area.
Around 10:30 p.m. last Friday, Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officers were dispatched to the area of 10th Street for a reported malicious destruction of property. OCPD officers met with a victim, who reportedly told police two males walked by her car and one of them punched the passenger side mirror. The officer observed the mirror in pieces on the ground and its frame folded forward.
The victim reportedly told police just one of the suspects, later identified as Ian Ayotte, 20, of Salisbury, had caused the damage. Witnesses also told police Ayotte had also damaged a stair railing at a residence on 10th Street, and the officer observed the railing displaced from the stairs. Witnesses also told police they observed Ayotte kick another vehicle, according to police reports.
Ayotte was located walking south on St. Louis Avenue and was detained. When questioned, Ayotte reportedly admitted to breaking the car mirror, the railing and kicking another car. “It was me,” he said, according to police reports. “I did it. I do stupid things when I’m drunk.”
Ayotte was arrested and charged with multiple counts of malicious destruction of property.
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Loaded Handgun, Drunk Driving
OCEAN CITY — A Bear, Del. man was arrested last weekend when a loaded handgun was found in his vehicle during an alleged drunk-driving stop.
Around 2 a.m. last Saturday, an Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer was patrolling in the midtown area when a taxi driver waved her over to stop. The taxi driver told the officer the driver of a white pickup truck with Delaware tags was observed nodding off at a traffic signal.
The officer observed the vehicle, pulled behind it and observed it driving erratically, according to police reports. The officer pulled the vehicle over at 65th Street and made contact with the driver, identified as Thomas Iezzi, 55, of Bear, Del. According to police reports, Iezzi exhibited signs of intoxication.
When the officer asked Iezzi where he was coming from, Iezzi told the officer he was coming from Dewey Beach and was going home to Bear, Del. When asked if he knew where he was currently, Iezzi reportedly told the officer “Not really, but I know I just passed Dewey.” The officer noted in the report Dewey Beach is 20 miles to the north and Bear, Del. was about 105 miles north of the location of the traffic stop.
Iezzi was administered a series of field sobriety tests, which he did not complete to the officer’s satisfaction, and he was arrested for driving while impaired. Iezzi’s vehicle was towed to the OCPD’s impound lot. During a subsequent inventory of the vehicle’s contents, a loaded 9mm handgun with 12 rounds in the magazine was located in the center console, according to police reports.
Iezzi was charged with driving while under the influence, driving while impaired, carrying a loaded handgun on his person and in his vehicle and other weapons charges.