Riot in Fells Point!?

I just got this email from a tourist to our town who was visiting from Rhode Island for the Red Sox series. I wonder if ppatin or any other readers out there have any knowledge of this event in Fells Point, and to what degree this is normal behavior on warm spring/summer weekends.

All thoughts welcome!
Here's what she sent: (As Dave Barry might say, I am not making this up)

"Thank you in advance for reading this Buzz.......man I have, I guess, a strange question for you. Found you on your website in my googling.

I am from Rhode Island. My boyfriend took me to Baltimore this past weekend to see the Red Sox play (awesome games I might add). we stayed at the Admiral Fell Inn at Fells Point. Neither of us had a clue about the high crime rate until we were immersed in it.

Something terrible happened right outside our hotel in the middle of the night - Sat 5/31 - Sun 6/1 - about 2AM.......on the corner of Thames and Broadway. I am totally perplexed because every attempt to find out exactly what happened has turned up nothing - getting obsessed here. I am wondering if it is because it was unsubstantial in the big crime scheme there, or if it is covered up, etc.

I have been to the Baltimore Sun, police blogs, etc - - NOTHING.

It involved MANY people (maybe 100??), SO MANY police - someone (or someoneS) were badly hurt - people there were horrified, even the people who were involved which seemed to be a crowd that was not immune to this type of violence. It as frightening - awakned to screaming and then yelling which lasted forever, it seemed......nearly a riot - at least 50 people fighting in the street (seperate small fights which the police didn't seem to be doing to much about, though their bilyclubs were out and ready throughout!)......went on for quite some time. Hotel guy the next morning just said it was a fight, maybe gangs, and that there was "a lot of blood'. then, nothing.

The problem is this - I am not seeking info out of morbid curiosity. But I need closure from it - it was all so surreal lthat night.....and then I came home on Sunday night and can barely sleep. I am panicky all of a sudden, obviously more traumatized by it than I thought. I never witnessed anything like it. My boyfriend was freaked also. We were actually worried they would try to overtake the hotel!!

How can somethng so awful be unreported to the public????

Can I have information related to it so i can close it out and put it to rest???"


Lisa in Little Rhody

"PS) wonderng if my instincts are on.........I was scared with goosebumps whenever we were on Pratt St.....just terrible vibes there. Am I making sense??"

Random, alternative, Iconoclastic thoughts on the Federal Hill brawl

Some thoughts on the "Federal Hill Melee"

• Buz has assisted a number of young professionals who are relocating to Baltimore. The vast majority of them immediately say that they want to live in either Federal Hill, Canton, or Fells Point. Nope, don't wanna look anywhere else! A couple even said they want to be near "the action". Translation: they want to be near lots of people just like themselves, and near lots of young people going to clubs and bars.
• Buz is leery of the "anything goes" atmosphere which accompanies bar-closing time around these bar-intensive areas. Reason: he spent many an early morning near 2am policing the Fells Point bar areas on Friday and Saturday nights (not to mention some other nights, too). If you go to that well often enough, bad things can happen.
• Now, there's nothing in Buz which praises or forgives stabbing people (and potentially almost killing them), but he is just pointing out that this is the nature of the beast. One has to be a tad judicious in living and frequenting these areas. And, in recent years, clubbing has only seemed to get worse and more risky in Baltimore.
• I read the shrill email account of the attack, (all those blanks and blanks and blanks made Buz's head hurt), and I did get the same sense that the police were holding to in the Sun report: there was a dispute. This is not to blame the victims, but there was a holier-than-thou/we are innocently attacked tone to the whole message.
•  A typical bar closing scene: WWWWhoooooooooooo;! Screaming at the top of your lungs in the middle of the street! (the mating cry of the Young Urban Professional male, who has imbibed past inhibition stage). Hollering, screaming, by the hundreds; peeing on steps; lots of fighting! It's wild! And it's Preakness night! The Infield continues!! Anything goes. Wooooooooooooo! Whoops, I just vomited on that lady's steps! F her! F the police.
• Newsflash to Young Urban Professionals: the old native Baltimorons don't like you taking over their neighborhoods--and some of them are nasty dirtballs. Don't you all know the neighborhoods after dark belong to the thugs? Are you trying to be better thugs than they are? Call them the Have-no-Blackberry crowd hating and resenting the Blackberry crowds. 
• Buz drove through Federal Hill late on weekend night not too long ago, and was amazed, though not surprised, about the huge crowds taking over the streets, and the yelling and playing in the street. In some posts on other forums Buz has read that people were upset about the lack of protection. For you or from you? Buz has talked to a number of homeowners and business people who want the imbibers protected from thugs, but also want themselves protected from the imbibers. It's hard to have it both ways.
• Buz was amazed that Detective Bailey, the lead investigator in the case, asked for any witnesses "who may have been sober" to contact him. Wow! I have never heard such a public statement about drinking witnesses from a police official before. I wonder if he was able to say it without a trace of sarcasm or irony in his voice.
• Police have not been able to find this MTA bus that was involved in the accident.
• Now, Buz was not there that night, nor has he read any of the police reports, nor has he talked to any of the victims. But he has spent many nights closing down bars--sometimes even off duty, as Buz likes a cool, refreshing, beverage every now and then. At other times, we were on duty and conducting crowd control. Buz has observed that the crowd is in a significantly different mood at 2am, and opposed, to say, 11pm. And significantly more mouthy. Buz sometimes told his shift at roll call, 1130pm before going on the street on Friday or Saturday nights: there's no point in arguing with drunks. Tell them no more than 3 times what you want them to do. If they still don't, there's no point in continuing discussion: either lock them up or walk away.
• "Sir, can you move along, there's been some trouble, here and we need you to go to your car" reply: "You can't tell me what to do! It's a free country! Woooooooooooooo!!"
• "Get out of the street!" reply: "you can't catch me!"
• "F this, F that"!
• My guess that the Southern District midnite shift was a little overwhelmed, and that their extra units had been detailed to the Preakness events and were not available. Or they could have just been busy with fights all over the place; it sounds like there were so many, even traffic couldn't get thru. Allegedly, even the nasties' car couldn't get through. Of course, police overtime might have been cut back--and there went the extra crowd control troops.
• When I was in Southeastern, we always did out best to have extra cops on hand after Preakness, 'cause a lot ot the party goers would come down to Fells Point afterward.
• And Buz is amused that the Young Urban Professionals believe that there is some kind of conspiratorial coverup going on because it wasn't reported. Newsflash: the reporters need days off too; crime happening late Saturday night into Sunday morning is often not reported. Especially on Preakness night. And there are fights and stabbings all over the city, including Fells Point, Canton, and, of course, Fed Hill. Most are not reported in the press.
• Buz is glad that Ms. Ashley Zion is now in a place where, if she likes to fight, there are probably a lot of other women there who can accommodate her. She so far has skated on all her previous assault arrests (several), probably because the complainants didn't show up. What set her and her friends off? Your consultant believes: she feels she was "disrespected" by the victims' group somehow (whether she was or not), she was probably legally drunk, she thought the yelling for her to stop was a form of snitching,  and betch, 2-1, she was coked up--a symptom of which in uncontrolled anger and hotheadedness. By the way, did anybody see that she has a judgment against her by her past bail bondsman: Big Girlz Bail Bonds. Well, maybe it's just as well she is on "no bail" for her current charges. And hoopefully with all those charges on her, she just might do a little snitching herself to save herself.

I know that most peojple who go to the bar/club scene are just out to have a good time, but sometimes it gets out of hand; part of the action.

So a couple of tips for safer barhopping in Fells Point, Canton, Federal Hill and other party spots: [No tips available for Preakness infield; if you go, may God have mercy on your soul!]

• Not much good happens after midnight. The later you stay, the higher your risks.
• Try to leave to head for home at 1 am--no later. This policy will be your best bet.
• Know and expect that things will be wild between 1:30 and 2:30am; thus, don't expect police to be around or to protect you, or come quickly.
• Keep your mouth shut; unless a comment is absolutely friendly, don't say anything to baltimorons you don't know. Accidents, fights, other sorts of bullcrap: just ignore it and get out of the way.
• Try not to hang at places which cater to thugs. If you feel afraid at times, you don't belong there.
• Remember, many Baltimorons without Blackberrys also have little brains, but often carry weapons and a need for respect. To the extent possible, be nice to them: survive and prevent harm.