OCPD: Police use of force in H2Oi video is within limits

Ocean City police are backing the officers captured on video striking a man during H2Oi last month.

Police said Monday that the officers' actions during this year's unofficial H2O International car show fall within the department's training and policies. The show was canceled but still brought droves of unruly visitors to the resort Sept. 28-Oct. 1.

The 21-second video shows at least one Ocean City officer in a physical altercation with a suspect. It was shared in an H2Oi Facebook group in late September along with a post that reads "cops punched on our boy for no reason."

The man arrested in the video is Craig Schultz, 19, of Bellmawr, New Jersey. He was charged Sept. 29 with obstructing and hindering, resisting arrest and failure to obey a lawful order. 

A statement of probable cause confirms there was a "brief struggle" as Sgt. Shawn Jones and Sgt. Frank Wrench of the Ocean City Police Department arrested Schultz. However, it is unclear which officer struck Schultz in the video.

The department hadn't received any formal complaints about the actions captured in the video, Ocean City police spokesperson Lindsay Richard said Monday.

Internal affairs officers reviewed the video shortly after it appeared on social media as well as officers' accounts of what took place leading up to the arrest, she said, and found no wrongdoing.

"Our officers are permitted to use force, per their training, to overcome the exhibited resistance. We feel the level of force the officer used during this incident is consistent with policy and training," according to a police department statement.

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The incident occurred during this year's H2Oi event, which was canceled by its organizer about two weeks before its scheduled start, though many drivers still showed up to Ocean City looking to showcase heavily modified Volkswagens and Audis.

The event was highly criticized and characterized as disruptive to the town. Ocean City officials described the behavior of visitors as "appalling."

Law enforcement responded to 2,735 calls for service, made 1,263 traffic stops and made 78 total arrests throughout the weekend — more than any of the scheduled H2Oi events that took place in the last four years, police department statistics show.

A Seaford, Delaware, man faces several charges, including attempted murder, after police say he struck two law enforcement officers in Ocean City during the unsanctioned weekend event.

The Maryland State Police homicide unit leads the ongoing investigation into the shots fired by two Ocean City officers at the suspect, which did not injure the driver or his passenger, as they fled the scene.

An Ocean City police cruiser also hit a pedestrian that weekend while turning left at the intersection for 56th Street and Coastal Highway. The preliminary investigation indicates the officer, who was on-duty for H2Oi, had a green light and the 26-year-old pedestrian from Connecticut was in the crosswalk.

The Connecticut man was released from hospital the following day, according to police. An internal investigation to determine if the accident was preventable is ongoing.

In the video incident, charging documents for Schultz show that at about 10 p.m. Sept. 29, Jones assisted Wrench with arresting two suspects who were charged with disturbing the peace on 57th Street. A "moderate-sized crowd" had started to form nearby.

Officers cleared a section of the sidewalk, according to documents, where the two suspects were processed and awaiting transport.

However, documents state, Schultz approached the area where the suspects were being held "and acted as if he was going to walk into the area that the officers were working on processing their arrests."

Jones wrote in documents that he stopped Schultz and told him to back up, directing him to an area several feet away.

Documents state Schultz then "became argumentative," claiming that a police officer couldn't give him an order on a public sidewalk.

RELATED: H2Oi behavior 'appalling' to Ocean City officials

Schultz was ordered several times to step away from the area, according to documents, but continued to argue with Jones and was told that he would be arrested if he didn't leave the area.

As Schultz started to back away from the scene, documents show he turned around and continued the argument, yelling and inciting the crowd.

He was warned a final time that he would be arrested if he didn't stop yelling and leave the scene, according to documents, but Schultz argued he couldn't be arrested on a public sidewalk.

Because his actions drew officers' attention away from the arrests and incited the crowd, documents state Jones arrested Schultz on charges of obstructing and hindering and failure to obey a lawful order.

When Jones and Wrench approached Schultz and informed him that he was being arrested, documents state he tried to back away from the officers, but Jones grabbed his shirt.

Jones wrote in documents that he pulled Schultz toward him, and he and Wrench were able to grab his arms.

Schultz tried to twist his body away from the officers and would not comply with orders "to give them his hands and stop resisting," according to documents, which led to a "brief struggle" before they were able to place handcuffs on Schultz.