10/4/19 Ocean City Today

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OC Today WWW.OCEANCITYTODAY.COM

OCTOBER 4, 2019

SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY

CORVETTE WEEKEND

Hundreds of vehicles, from classics to newer models, will roll through Ocean City – Page 25

FREE

Mob grows around cop during arrest

County says no deal over gaming split

Pair tries to interfere as lone officer holds suspect, calls backup

Nordstrom apologizes for affidavit request By Elizabeth Bonin Staff Writer (Oct. 4, 2019) Concerns regarding speculation that the county commissioners quietly support cutting Snow Hill and Pocomoke City in for a share of Ocean Downs casino revenue surfaced Josh Nordstrom at the Worcester County Commissioners m e e t i n g Tuesday, as southern district Commissioner Joshua Bud Church Nordstrom’s attempted to have Commissioner Bud Church pledge his backing in writing. On Sept. 3, the commissioners agreed to postpone until May discussing Nordstrom’s request for a grant based on table game revenue from the casino on Racetrack Road. Nordstrom advocated giving cash-strapped Pocomoke and Snow Hill a piece of the action like Ocean City, Ocean Pines and Berlin receive through “impact grants.” The difference, however, is that the impact grants were created to help these communities deal with the effects of the See BERTINO Page 62

LIFESTYLE

MORGAN PILZ/OCEAN CITY TODAY

PLEASE REMAIN SEATED An Ocean City police officer stands above the seated driver of one of the modified cars that descended on Ocean City last weekend. Police agencies issued more than 1,500 traffic citations from Thursday through Sunday.

‘That’s just not acceptable’ Mayor, police chief say car event came just to raise havoc By Josh Kim Staff Writer (Oct. 4, 2019) City officials and the Ocean City Police Department are brainstorming for ways to prevent another H2Oi-style event in the resort, following a nightmarish weekend when thousands of modified foreign cars took over the roads and their drivers dominated law enforcement’s attention. “We had a group come to

town, and they were here with the sole purpose of raising havoc throughout our community, and that’s just not acceptable,” Mayor Rick Meehan said. “The level of disrespect [toward law enforcement] is something we have never seen,” Police Chief Ross Buzzuro said. “I want to stress this point that the group of individuals this weekend … they had issues with law enforcement. We did our very best to handle this, and at times it was very, very taxing for us.” Ocean City residents began to see trickles of mod-

ified and foreign cars filtering into the resort last Wednesday for what was billed for an unofficial H2Oi event. By the following Friday, the city had been overtaken. H2Oi stands for Watercooled International and references specific German cars such as Volkswagen and Audi. But in Ocean City, it has come to represent all small, highly modified foreign cars. Hundreds of officers from OCPD, the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office, the Maryland State Police, See POLICE Page 4

By Josh Kim Staff Writer (Oct. 4, 2019) An Ocean City police officer was swarmed by a mob as he attempted to arrest Andrew James Steitz, 21, of Forked River, New Jersey last Friday. The officer said Steitz was standing in the middle of traffic on Coastal Highway near 45th Street and that Steitz blocked traffic to create space for cars to do burnouts. The officer said two cars almost collided because of Steitz’ actions, and he attempted to direct Steitz to the curb. See MOB Page 4

‘Hit-and-run’ wasn’t, but arrest made By Josh Kim Staff Writer (Oct. 4, 2019) Police identified Josiah Ament of Lititz, Pennsylvania, as the driver who drove his car into a crowd of guests last weekend. “In reference to pedestrians being struck at 33rd Street & Baltimore Avenue, it was not a hit-and-run,” Ocean City Police Department Spokeswoman Ashley Miller said. “The driver was still on scene but had moved away from the large crowd for safety reasons.” See HIT-AND-RUN Page 4


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10/4/19 Ocean City Today by OC Today-Dispatch - Issuu