OC officials: College assaults 'not what OC has become'
Town officials have linked a correlation between the disturbances on the Boardwalk this Saturday and Sunday and the College Beach Weekend event that led to 12 arrests in Ocean City.
Police and officials said on Monday that they would review the past weekend's events to better deal with College Beach Weekend events in the future. College Beach Weekend is an unsanctioned, social media based event organized by DC based promoters Party Headz.
Lindsay Richard, public information officer for the Ocean City Police Department, said in the past two years where College Beach Weekend has occurred and no problems of this magnitude were reported.
"The same kind of event has happened in the past couple years in early June," Richard said. "We certainly saw an increase in petty crimes, but no serious problems."
The recent incidents in question began on Saturday, July 23 at 9:45 p.m. when police officials state Kevin D. Rusten, 26 of Silver Spring, kicked a trash can into the Boardwalk near Atlantic and 1st Street. When officers attempted to detain him, Rusten became aggressive and attacked the officers. A crowd then formed and joined in the assault. In total, five arrests were made during the incident.
The second incident occurred around 12:40 a.m. Sunday, which resulted in seven arrests.
"Officers observed a large crowd form that were yelling profanities and throwing bottles and objects into the air," Richard said. "When officers attempted to disperse the crowd, the several individuals assaulted the officers."
Despite this being the first serious incident in Ocean City, this isn't the first time College Beach Weekend has spawned controversy from events. In late April of 2016, 700 calls for service and 65 arrests were made over the course of three days in Virginia Beach, Virginia due to the event, 13 News Now reported.
Despite these incidents, Jessica Waters, communications manager for the Town of Ocean City, said there are no plans to ban the event from taking place in future years.
"We really try to welcome everyone in Ocean City," Waters said. "With the expectations that they obey and respect our laws and ordinances."
While the crowd which attacked officers in the incident at 12:40 a.m. numbered around 200, Waters said Party Headz themselves seemed to have taken steps to actively encourage visitors to follow the law, with the tagline on the flyer for the event reading "respect their city, enjoy the weekend."
Both Richard and Waters noted that, if future College Beach Weekend events make their way to Ocean City, the police department will be prepared in the event of another emergency situation.
"The town and the police department are certainly reviewing what occurred, and how to work on it in the future," Waters said.
While this incident was a cause for alarm, Richard said it's not something that is expected to be a recurring problem.
"I'd like to stress that we don't expect this behavior to be ongoing," Richard said. "I know a lot of people are concerned about what they saw and asking if this is what Ocean City has become.
"No, it's not what Ocean City has become."
gfanelli@dmg.gannett.com