More Route 1 riot charges dropped

Seven people arrested in the March 4 riot on Route 1 have been cleared in the past week, leaving only five of the 28 people who were detained still facing charges for their alleged roles in the incident.

Only one case has made it to trial, and it was thrown out before the defense even had to make an argument.

The students and other revelers celebrating a Terrapin men's basketball victory were charged without sufficient evidence, or with evidence that outright contradicts police claims, according to attorneys for the students and to a Prince George's County Police spokesman.

"Thus far, 28 people were arrested and nobody has been convicted," said Terrell N. Roberts, an attorney for several of the students. "That at least suggests that something went wrong here."

County police spokesman Maj. Andy Ellis said his department's procedures turned out to be insufficient to keep things straight during the turmoil of the riot scene. Internal and state investigations are also evaluating claims of police brutality, and four county officers remain stripped of their police powers.

"There's no question that we need to improve the documentation when we need to make arrests," Ellis said. "In this case there was a lot of chaos. ... Compared to just a standard disorderly conduct arrest, I don't know that the amount of paperwork would have been the same."

Roberts put it more harshly.

"It's shocking to me that there are no police reports that substantiate what these accused people did. ... When they scooped these people up, they charged them haphazardly. And they come to court and there are no reports," he said. "That's not proper documentation of the facts. I would say it's grossly under the standards that would apply to a modern police department."

Ellis said all arrests would have been individually reported, but anyone charged after being detained and released from temporary holding facilities like Ritchie Coliseum wouldn't have the same level of documentation.

"In general, was there less documentation than there should have been?" Ellis said. "That's possible."

Of the three students brought to court on July 8, two — David Markham and Steven Harvey — had their charges dropped by police, and a judge threw out the case against Brandon Johnson before hearing any defense witnesses.

Johnson had been charged with disorderly conduct after allegedly showing police his middle finger and being uncooperative, Roberts said.

"There's no crime of being uncooperative or giving someone the finger," Roberts said. "They arrested many people who hadn't committed a crime."

Another five people went to court July 13; three had their charges dropped before trial. Another took a deal that private investigator Sharon Weidenfeld said police offered to everyone arrested at the riot: performing 24 hours of community service in exchange for having the case moved to the court's "stet docket," where it is inactive for a year before automatically being thrown out.

The fifth defendant, Paul Martin, had his charges dropped as he was about to go to trial. Weidenfeld said there were several police officers in court to testify — until they learned of the defense's evidence.

"As soon as they found out there was video they were gone," Weidenfeld said.

Roberts said he is frustrated by the situation and said he didn't expect the remaining cases to end much differently than the ones that have already been decided. Three of the remaining five people still facing charges have court dates between July and September; the other two have not yet been assigned one.

But while some have argued police sparked a riot by intervening in a peaceful celebration, police say students were disturbing the peace, blocking traffic on a major highway and generally breaking the law.

Ellis said that either way, the police had to intervene.

"We don't have the luxury of not taking action," Ellis said. "We're responsible for maintaining the peace and keeping roadways open. ... Before the officers engaged, we had some fires that were set, we had a bus that was rocked. At some point the police have to step in."

rabdill at umdbk dot com