What Happened on Bobcat Court?

Bobcat Court, a dead-end street directly adjacent to Westminster and Cumberland residents halls has been the scene of several incidents, including an October 2015 stabbing. The most recent incident, on Sunday, Sept. 22nd, 2019 at approximately 12:38 a.m., ended with the Frostburg City Police Department (FPD) and Frostburg State University Police Department (FSUPD) deploying pepper spray, otherwise known as fogger OC spray, on the crowd of students. So, what happened?

The press release from the Frostburg City Police Department, released to the Cumberland Times-News and on their Facebook page, reports that “upon arrival, officers found a large, disorderly crowd outside estimated at 200 people. Immediately upon police arrival, some unidentified members of the crowd began throwing rocks at officers.” In order to disperse the crowd, officers used the pepper spray and were successful in breaking up the crowd. No arrests were made and the only injuries reported were sustained by two police offers as a result of the fogger OC spray. However, the ongoing criminal investigation into the matter involves the rock-throwing; two police cruisers, one from each responding agency, were reportedly damaged.

Photograph courtesy of FPD: damages to Dodge Durango police cruiser

Photograph courtesy of FSUPD: damages to the police cruiser. Water bottle for reference.

To learn more, The Bottom Line reached out to Frostburg City Police Chief Nicholas Costello and Frostburg State University Police Chief Cynthia Smith for comment. Each agency provided a photograph of the alleged damages and responded to clarifying questions.

Did the officers receive citizen complains about this gathering or were the police addressing the crowd under the new Social Host Unruly Gathering ordinance passed in March 2019?

Chief Smith: “FSUPD was responding at the request of FPD for backup in response to an excessive noise complaint.”

Can you confirm that the disturbance occurred at the furthest house on Bobcat Court, closest to campus?

Chief Smith: “The location was 19 Bobcat Court.”

For reference, 19 Bobcat Court is owned by Melissa Knapp of Springfield, Virginia, according to Maryland real estate public records.

Do your officers have any estimation about the number of people throwing rocks?

Chief Smith: “There were several rocks thrown, there could have been one or a few individuals involved. Regardless it was very important to take control of the situation as members of the crowd as well as the officers were in danger of significant injury should they be struck.”

Will the police car damaged be covered by insurance? Or will University/City of Frostburg funds be used to repair the damaged vehicle?

Chief Smith: “The University is self-insured as such is repairs are made, they will be at the expense of the University unless the individual(s) responsible can be identified. Information can be provided anonymously to Crime Solvers at (301) 722-4300. A $300 reward is being offered.”

Chief Costello: “The City’s insurance would cover the damages, but such repair costs can result in an increase in premiums. The person(s) responsible would be liable for the damaged they caused, in addition to any criminal penalties for the act.”

So, how did a crowd of 200 people disperse without a single arrest? Is this an open-and-shut case of disorderly students causing trouble for the quiet town of Frostburg? What independent corroboration is there of the events described by the police?

To clear up these questions, The Bottom Line reached back out to FSUPD Chief Cynthia Smith. In September 2016, former Design Manager for this paper, Nick DeMichele, reported that the campus police had purchased body-worn cameras (BCWs) which they would utilize in their daily operations. “The adoption of the cameras is the result of a voluntary decision made by the department,” wrote DeMichele. Chief Smith said in 2016 that the “cameras will provide visual and audible documentation of crime scenes,” and that data from the cameras would be unloaded to the University storage drive at the police facility nightly. The purchase of this camera equipment came at the time of an emerging national conversation around police accountability and procedures. Thus, The Bottom Line asked to view the footage recorded during Sunday morning’s altercation. This request has gone unanswered, as of press time.

Moreover, the conversation around police accountability is interwoven with a conversation about racial tensions in the country. Indeed, the American Psychological Association wrote in March 2017 that “people see black men as larger, more threatening than same-sized white men.” In an interview with one of the community members who called the police the morning of September 22, we asked what the racial makeup of the crowd at Bobcat Court was and the complainant responded, “mixed… but mostly black.” A second community member, who also called the FPD that early morning to complain about the noise, confirmed the same detail; the crowd was made up of mostly black students. Both responding police departments are comprised of majority-white officers. A student at that party, who asked to remain anonymous, says that only 100 or so students were present when the police showed up. In fact, the community member who called the police reported that “about 25 people were there at 9:00 p.m., maybe about 100 at 11:00 p.m., and then it didn’t get much bigger after that.”

Nonetheless, all would agree that the use of pepper spray, a mostly harmless deterrent that does not render significant injury, is an acceptable use of force against rock-throwing. However, when The Bottom Line asked the two community members who called the police whether rocks were thrown, both parties responded that they did not see that happen. The anonymous student also reports that no rocks were thrown, contradicting the provided police statements. This disparity in detail necessitates further investigation.

The Unruly Social Gathering ordinance, passed in March 2019 by the Frostburg City Council, intended to prevent the situation at Bobcat Court by giving police officers the ability to break up parties of four (4) or more people where alcoholic beverages were being consumed by underage persons or where “behavior or conduct is occurring that results in the disturbance of the peace or a disturbance of the quiet enjoyment of private or public property.” The Bottom Line reported in February 2019 that City of Frostburg Public Safety Commissioner, former Police Officer Kevin Grove, said the ordinance would, “allow the officer first off to observe and go into action without citizen complaint.” However, Chiefs Costello and Smith say that they were responding on Sunday morning to a public complaint, not working under the guise of the Unruly Social Gathering ordinance. One of the community members interviewed for this article commented, “Why isn’t that law being enforced? Why did they wait and do nothing while the party got bigger and bigger?”

In the meantime, Ms. Robin Wynder, Director for Student Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, and the Black Student Alliance are hosting a forum on policing strategies on Wednesday, Oct. 2 at 6:00 p.m. in 224 Compton Science Center. On the panel will be FPD Chief Nicholas Costello, FSUPD Chief Cynthia Smith, and Dr. Jeff Graham, Interim Vice President for Student Affairs.