St patrick canigo2/20/2023 ![]() ![]() You're not going to get out and chase them." It was scary."īhatti, a native of Pakistan who has been in America for 13 years and driven a taxi here for one, said youths kicked his cab's doors and pounded on the hood when he stopped at red lights.Īt Baltimore and Light streets, he said, the road "was blocked and 35 to 40 people, young kids, were walking across. Police were there and they did their best, to be honest, but it looked like the number of police officers was not enough for that mob. "There was a lot of people, fighting, arguing, cursing, fists flying," he said. "They're everywhere," he answered.Īzhar Bhatti, a driver for Checker Cab, found himself in the middle of a mob scene, trapped at Baltimore and Light streets. "Let me know what you see in reference to the kids," the dispatcher asked the police officer in the helicopter, called Foxtrot. Witnesses said it appeared as if a sports stadium had suddenly emptied. Also downtown were crowds from nightclubs and theaters, and other holiday celebrants. Among them were a fight that left a man unconscious on Redwood Street, guests at the Hyatt Regency Hotel being harassed and frightened youngsters taking refuge inside a Days Inn to escape an angry mob.Ĭalls for help piled up as the crowd swelled. The 10 people arrested, all juveniles, were charged with disorderly conduct, assault and curfew violations.īut the tapes reveal other calls as well. That Monday, police confirmed at least one brawl, a stabbing on Water Street and said an officer had possibly subdued a youth with a Taser just north of the harbor. We had over 500 people come from different sides of town. If you find the aggressor, you go after him. "The idea is to ensure everybody's safety. Dennis Smith, commander of the Central District. "It's never the idea to make mass arrests," said Maj. Recordings from more than three hours of dispatch tapes obtained by The Baltimore Sun through the state's Public Information Act reveal a far more violent landscape than police initially described - as well as several incidents, including a reported knifing at a Harborplace pavilion, that were not disclosed.Ī police commander and the department's chief spokesman defended how the agency confronted the youths, making 10 arrests, saying that at no time did events spiral out of control. The full scope of the March 17 disturbance has not previously come to light. The just passed a large group of kids assaulting the male with one child on the ground." Somebody has stomped a male in the crowd. "I need somebody to go to Pratt and Light, a medic is trying to get through. "I need somebody to go to Pratt and Light for the male who was assaulted, Charles and Pratt for the assault, Pratt and Light again for the juveniles," a police dispatcher urgently called out in a single breath amid the melee. Dozens of officers called in from across the city scrambled to keep up with the attacks, shutting key intersections and trying to push the youths away from the center of tourism. Patrick's Day drew to a close in Baltimore, teens by the hundreds swarmed downtown, keeping one step ahead of police while battling from corner to corner, mostly with fists, sometimes with knives.Īs authorities watched from a helicopter and on video from surveillance cameras, youths marched seemingly at will through the Inner Harbor and streets north and west, frequently clashing that Saturday night. ![]()
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