Sheriff Mike Lewis Speaks Out About The Massive Fight At The Regal Cinemas In Salisbury

"Joe-

Inasmuch as I’d prefer to continue with important tasks at hand, I’ve felt it necessary to stop and respond to allegations of inaction by members of the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office in Saturday night’s assault of a female outside of the Regal Cinemas in Salisbury. First of all, I was there! The following is an accurate account of what occurred. It’s not exaggerated or embellished as has been reported in a previous letter to you.

I chose to attend the ten o’clock showing of “The Unborn” with my thirteen year old daughter and another member of my staff, Chief Deputy Gary Baker. We located three seats together, near the back of the theater in the next to the last row. The theater was alive with a talkative group of moviegoers in the last row who continued socializing, cracking gum and using their cell phones while the movie was showing. Although we found this disruptive, we still attempted to ignore them and enjoy our movie. After all, there were nearly four hundred fifty people inside this theater and only about a dozen or so appeared to be disruptive. Over the years, I’ve found this to be the best course of action if viewing a movie with my daughter.

Suddenly, from a seat directly in front of me, a teenage female stood up and demanded “Stop cracking that f------ gum.” This prompted a number of profanity laced comments directed towards the teenager from a number of kids from the disruptive group. These comments quickly died out but the loud cracking of gum persisted. I saw no popcorn being thrown and there was no one kicking anyone’s seat as previously reported. At no time did we witness a criminal offense or an arrestable offense which warranted police action.

Towards the end of the movie, the teenager seated within arm’s length of me, obviously frustrated, stood up and quickly exited the theater-leaving behind another female friend with whom she was seated. Minutes later, she returned to her seat. Shortly thereafter, two uniformed Wicomico County Sheriff’s Deputies entered the theater and stood on either side near the back. As the movie concluded and the lights came on, the theater emptied out in an orderly fashion while we stopped to talk with the sheriff’s deputies.

While talking with my two deputies, an employee of Regal Cinemas came into the theater and reported a large fight outside. Almost simultaneously, and from one of two deputies’ radios, I overheard a dispatcher from the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office notify deputies of a large fight in progress involving 75-100 people in front of the Regal Cinemas. As we quickly proceeded towards the front where the fight was reported, I secured my daughter near the concession stand and Chief Baker and I proceeded outside with our deputies.

Once outside, we found a female in the rain standing on her feet. She was obviously distraught and reported that she had just been beaten by a group of teenagers-the same ones she had exchanged words with inside the theater. She said they had been waiting for her outside. There were no obvious signs of injuries and there were no suspects in sight. According to bystanders, someone hollered “the cops are coming” which prompted the suspects to flee.

Within two minutes, there were seven uniformed sheriff deputies on the scene. We stood with the victim and comforted the victim until Salisbury Police Officers arrived on the scene to conduct their investigation. As a direct result of a long-standing jurisdictional agreement and relationship with the City of Salisbury, the Salisbury Police Department investigates all crimes which occur within their jurisdictional boundaries except those occurring in the presence of sheriff’s deputies. We handle our own cases including those occurring within the city should they occur within our presence.

Obviously, this was not the case. The victim’s assault wasn’t witnessed by any law enforcement personnel. She was never denied law enforcement services. In fact, it was quite the contrary. She was contacted and comforted while being questioned about the identity of the suspects while awaiting the arrival of the Salisbury Police. At no time did a sheriff’s deputy refuse or fail to take action because of “jurisdictional boundaries.”

I was there Joe and I witnessed the aforementioned events unfold!

I have attended dozens of movies over the years at the Hoyt Theaters and the Regal Cinemas 16 Cineplex, and I’ve always enjoyed myself. However, I’ve never witnessed a level of disruption during any movie as I witnessed Saturday night during the showing of “The unborn”.

Chief Baker and I have since met with the management of Regal Cinemas to discuss this incident. We learned that whenever a rated PG-13 horror movie is released, there is an acceptable level of disruption which frequently occurs during the viewings. I learned that this is a common occurrence when teenagers under the age of seventeen attend these showings without parental supervision as was witnessed by me Saturday night.

However, the violence associated in the brutal attack of the female teenager is unacceptable. I have spoken with the victim’s mother on at least two occasions and I’ve assured her that the Salisbury Police Department will assist her daughter in identifying and arresting those responsible for this cowardly act. I have also spoken to Chief Allan Webster who is making sure that proper steps are being taken to hold these thugs accountable. Right now, with the invaluable assistance of the victim, suspects have been identified and will be soon arrested.

Should you or your viewers have any questions of me or my sheriff’s deputies, please don’t hesitate to contact me @ 410-548-4891 or via email @ mikelewis@wicomicocounty.org

Thanks Joe!

Michael A. Lewis
Sheriff
Wicomico County"

As many will recall, I had a Post up two days ago referencing a Brother coming to his Sisters rescue. I had received an e-mail from the Brother explaining what had happened.

After I put up the Post I even made a remark after several comments that I had been at this, (blogging) for 3 years now and I could tell when one person was making numerous comments. IMO, I felt it was the Brother making very harsh remarks about the Sheriff's Department. I sent Sheriff Lewis a text message asking him to look at the Post because I was concerned this was headed in the wrong direction and something was clearly wrong.

Sheriff Lewis read the Post and comments and immediately contacted me while Chief Baker joined Sheriff Lewis on speaker phone. They both explained to me how they were there that night and sat right behind the young lady who had been injured/assaulted. You know the story now, (above). Once I heard the whole story I knew the Sister had lied to the Brother and in fact the Mother read the Post and comments and actually attempted to make a comment stating her Son had several of the facts wrong but I had already pulled the Post and her comment never saw the light of day.

I have received numerous comments and e-mail messages asking me what had happened to the Post as many seemed touched and concerned and now you know why I pulled it. The story the Brother told was quite different from the one Chief Baker and Sheriff Lewis witnessed. Freak as it was, they were right behind this young lady the entire time and knew exactly what had happened. I pulled the Post because the Brother was becoming irate because I stopped allowing his comments up and he just became very angry. Hopefully he now sees what truly happened at the Theater and understands why I took the Post down. While I'm proud of him sticking up for his Sister, as I would do, things aren't always what were told and emotions can sometimes get the best of us.

I respect Sheriff Lewis' word as well as Chief Baker's word. The Brother was making it sound like the Police were doing everything wrong. Little did he know two of the biggest names in the Police Business were right there in the very same Theater.

My sincere thanks goes to Sheriff Lewis for drafting this message. I personally believe it's the very first step in the right direction as I have always felt Department Heads should defend their positions when necessary. There was no favoritism played whatsoever when I chose to pull the Post. I did what I felt was the proper thing to do and I never coached or asked Sheriff Lewis to draft this message. In fact I'm very surprised, yet also very pleased he chose to do so.