Rehoboth Beach Releases Takeover Event Report, Finds No Police Misconduct

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. – The City of Rehoboth Beach has released an independent report examining police response to the “Takeover” event that occurred in the beach town on May 19.

The review, conducted by Max B. Walton and Lisa Hatfield of Connolly Gallagher LLP, was requested by the City to provide an objective, independent assessment of the incident and the actions taken by the Rehoboth Beach Police Department that night. In a special meeting held Thursday morning, the Mayor and City Commissioners voted to make the report findings public. 

Background

On May 19, the City issued at least 19 citations for various crimes and ordinance violations in connection with individuals attending a planned “Takeover” event on the beach, boardwalk, and surrounding areas. The following day, the City sought a warrant charging each of the event organizers with intent to commit a riot and second degree conspiracy.

As WMDT previously reported, those charges were dismissed by the Delaware Department of Justice (DOJ) on May 29, who said there was “no factual basis to charge the defendants.” The City faced additional backlash from the NAACP and other groups who claimed that the charges were racially motivated, even receiving one email stating, in part, “Black parents are questioning whether Rehoboth Beach is safe for their children.”

Rehoboth Beach leaders took issue with the dismissal, saying they were never contacted, and disagreed with the decision, saying in part, “it does not appear that all relevant facts and circumstances have yet been fully reviewed.” As a result, the City commissioned an independent report reviewing police reports, issued citations, and body and vehicle camera footage spanning multiple hours. The independent report also includes interviews conducted with officers and attendees present at the event.

Timeline of Events

One week prior to the May 19 “Takeover” event, an Instagram page with the handle @section8.ent began advertising a large gathering at Queen Street in Rehoboth Beach, encouraging attendees to arrive at 2:00 p.m. and stay through sundown. RBPD anticipated that the gathering would begin and end later than advertised, and requested backup from several other area law enforcement agencies.

Police began making contact with suspected event attendees at 4:40 p.m., but large crowds began arriving beginning around 6:00 p.m. The report estimates that at approximately 8:20 p.m. when the crowd was first being disbursed from the beach, the crowd size totaled more than 500, and could have been as high as 650 or 700 people.

Officers begin patrolling the beach in the late afternoon, advising medium sized groups that were breaking Rehoboth Beach rules, such as playing loud music and consuming alcohol on the beach, to move to Deauville Beach, a state park adjacent to City limits that allows tents, music, and alcohol not in glass bottles. Most groups officers spoke with complied, packing up their things to move, despite some pushback from individuals who did not want to toss their alcoholic beverages.

Eventually, officers make contact with one event organizer, whose identity is redacted in the independent report. The organizer told officers they emphasize to participants to follow City rules, and advises officers to write tickets if they observe people behaving badly. There is a cooperative discussion, again, of keeping the event down by the State Park end of Rehoboth where they can play their music.

By approximately 7:00 p.m., the report says a very large crowd had gathered in the Deauville Beach area, spilling into both the state park and Rehoboth Beach. While patrolling both beaches, officers observed marijuana use, alcohol violations, and noise violations. Additionally, the area where the crowd gathered does not have public bathroom facilities, prompting sanitation and health concerns given the large number of attendees. Officers called for backup, resulting in 23 officers arriving across varying law enforcement departments.

Through sundown, officers continue to await the beach’s closing time, instructing beachgoers to pour out alcohol and cease smoking activities, along with issuing citations where applicable. At 8:20 p.m., while RBPD officers worked on the north side of town, DNREC officers began the process of alerting the gathering at Deauville that the state park was closed using two vehicles and a pre-recorded announcement to disperse. When officers activated their lights and the message was played, the majority of the crowd quickly exited the beach leaving behind a large amount of trash and a few personal items. As the crowd is making its way back to town, an officer is heard in one of the reviewed videos estimating about 600 people are headed to the boardwalk.

As event participants reached the boardwalk, the group broke into pockets of people in different locations. Some groups gathered on benches near the beach entrances, a very small number of people went on the beach, and the majority gathered near the pavilion and Candy Kitchen on the boardwalk. The small group on the beach departs just before 9:00 p.m. after police tell them the beach is closed. A two-person fight breaks out on the boardwalk around 9:16 p.m., causing another loud commotion and creating what is described in the report as, “a noisy scene with individuals walking everywhere, yelling to one another… chanting and creating a level of noise which one might expect from a crowd of several hundred people.”

Around 9:40 p.m., officers respond to a call from a nearby business where patrons refuse to pay their bill. It is resolved shortly after officers arrive. Several other businesses that typically close between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. ended up closing early due to the large crowds causing a decrease in business. Some businesses reported that members of the crowd were banding on windows and pulling on locked doors, causing fear for patrons and employees alike.

The report says the crowd began to get rowdier around 10:00 p.m., beginning to taunt officers and their canines. Around 10:37 p.m., a second fight broke out beginning in the Penny Lane Mall area and ending near First Street station. Officers were able to respond quickly and arrest both individuals, who were cited for disorderly conduct, but were unable to get the surrounding crowd to disperse.

Interviews Conducted

In interviews with RBPD officers that were present at the event, officers repeatedly expressed their concerns surrounding the activities they observed and the lack of regard held by attendees. One officer stated that he was very nervous during the entire incident because of the overwhelming number of people packed together in a tight area. Another officer interviewed stated that “this is not
the usual way a crowd behaves,” with another stating, “this cannot happen again.”

Officers also detailed the harassment they suffered while patrolling the area, as documented in the reviewed footage. Event attendees often disregarded orders given by police, instead responding with jeers, slurs, and in some cases twerking. One officer stated he stopped writing citations because there were too many to give out.

Investigators also spoke with a property owner that owns property near the bandstand area who emphatically advised that “no one wants one of these takeover events to happen again.”

In interviews with beachgoers present on May 19, many stated they were confused as to the large police presence on the beach because, in their view, nobody was doing anything illegal. Another person interviewed indicated that they arrived at the beach that morning and left around 4:00 p.m., stating they had never seen so many cops at the beach and saw police approach one group four or five times. This person, along with a few others interviewed,  felt that the police were targeting persons of color for tickets, but they did not specifically identify or witness any instances of police misconduct.

Another interviewee, who had been at Claws Restaurant that evening with his fiancé, said he did not believe the crowd was misbehaving, and he felt that the officers arriving at the scene “were looking for something to happen” and were “a little amped up.” However, he did not allege any police officer misconduct and did not see any confrontations, but thought the officers should not have engaged the members attending the takeover as much as they did.

Investigators also spoke with one of the four individuals identified in the arrest warrant. That person did not attend the event, and that their only involvement was being on the Instagram bio for the event. Once this person knew of the warrant, this person was required to drive quite a long way to turn themselves in. He recounted the situation as very confusing because he had not attended the event. He also reportedly expressed alarm over the group’s arrest, saying it was unfair to be used as an example. The report notes that RBPD was unaware of his absence from the event when a warrant for his arrest was filed.

Conclusion

Connolly Gallagher LLP concluded in their report that RBPD “were consistently informative, respectful, and displayed incredible restraint throughout the incident,” finding they “acted admirably in a stressful situation.” The investigators acknowledged the large police presence beginning in the early evening could have caused discomfort for some beachgoers, but were “unable to determine
that this increased presence was due to the racial makeup of the crowd.” Instead, they argue the large police presence was due to the context of the event, as “Takeover” events continue to be a rising trend across the country.

Further, investigators determined the issued citations appeared to be consistent with conduct. Officers were observed explaining local laws, chatting with individuals about their career goals, and
encouraging individuals to head out when the beach was about to close. No inappropriate conduct by any officer was observed during these exchanges, even when arguing beachgoers got a little to close, a little too rowdy, or began to curse.

Lastly, the independent report finds that while ambitious, RBPD was within their purview of statutory elements to pursue a warrant for inciting a riot. They explain their reasoning, saying the following:

“Indeed, for the charge, the statute requires only ‘A person is guilty of riot when the person participates with 2 or more persons in a course of disorderly conduct: (1) With intent to commit or facilitate the commission of a felony or misdemeanor.’ The events of May 19 certainly gave rise to that charge…. Advertising this event set the course of disorderly conduct in motion because the event organizers knew (or may or should have known) the event would be disorderly as they had previously hosted events and more specifically, an event in Rehoboth just two weeks earlier which resulted in at least nine (9) complaints and four (4) arrests. Although intent can be difficult to prove, there is certainly a plausible reason to surmise that the organizers attending sought to facilitate the commission of misdemeanors as they intend these events to be a party, they advertise loud music and alcohol, often for 18+, and they do so without obtaining permits to do so. As such, we believe had a good faith basis to seek the warrant based upon the plain language of the statute.”

The same argument was made for the criminal conspiracy charge.

What Happens Next?

The report takes issue with the way in which the Attorney General’s Office dismissed the charges, but acknowledges their wide discretion on whether and when to prosecute charges and maintains they were within their right to dismiss. Additionally, they find no evidence was presented to argue that charges and citations issued were racially motivated, and that the heavy police presence was reasonable compared to crowd sizes.

“Similarly, the decision to pursue charges against the organizers, in our view, was not racially motivated,” the report concludes. “Again, while seeking an inciting a riot charge might have been
somewhat over ambitious, we do not believe the charges were brought based upon racial animus. They were based upon the nature of the event, namely a large crowd, violations of City ordinances – consuming alcohol, fighting, and disorderly conduct etc. as outlined above.”

Following the meeting in which the report was made public, Mayor Stan Mills said, “on behalf of the City of Rehoboth Beach and Board of Commissioners, I would like to commend the professionalism of our officers and thank them for their service, on May 19 and every day, in keeping our community safe.”

No further recommendations were provided in the report, and it is unclear whether charges will be pursued in relation to the events on May 19. To read the report in full, click here.