OCEAN CITY, Md. – It was an all-too-typical scene at Ocean City’s boardwalk early Saturday, as a fight escalated into a series of brawls that eventually required the attention of 40 police officers and led to numerous arrests.
“We generally have one big fight every weekend,” said Officer Michael Levy, a spokesman for Ocean City’s police department. It is part of the annual scene when high schoolers fresh out of caps and gowns head to Ocean City for a week of freedom, and often questionable behavior.
“We understand people are going to come down to Ocean City and drink and do what they are going to do,” Levy said. “There just seems to be this sense of ‘I can’t get hurt.’
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“Beach Week” goes back many decades for area teenagers, and it has always been a time that tests their judgment on drinking, drugs, sex and other reckless behavior, while giving their parents at home sleepless nights.
During the first three weeks of June, recent grads swarm to the shore in droves. The teens spend their days on the beach working on their tans.
But when the sun goes down is when things really heat up.
The boardwalk at night is teeming with teens on the prowl for action. Most of the girls are wearing skin-tight clothing, and the boys band together making catcalls. The boys advance, the girls giggle.
Instead of taking a chance at a bar with fake IDs, many recent high school grads flock to the end of the boardwalk on Worcester Street. That’s where a thumping techno beat pumps from H20, a no-alcohol club where kids as young as 15 are welcome.
“High School Seniors — get ready to party,” the club’s Web site boasts. The club promises foam parties, “MTV celebrities,” “the hottest people” and “the best parties.” The site features pictures of scantily clad girls dancing together.
On Wednesday night, the club was a playground for experimental, hormonally charged youngsters.
There are elevated tables specifically made for dancing on, stripperlike poles at every turn and even a few cages that several girls will pack into at one time.
Into the night, the salty smell of sweaty bodies fills the hot air inside the club as kids aggressively grind on each other and the repetitive music urges them on.
On the right night, soapy water shoots from the ceiling to cool everyone down, and the sweaty bodies turn slick with soap. In a matter of minutes, everyone’s clothes are soaked through and the club’s “foam party” rolls on.
At the end of the night, the city’s transit system — affectionately called the “drunk bus” by locals — is filled with teens leaving the clubs.
Emergency room directors at two area hospitals both said they couldn’t provide statistics on the number of patients treated for alcohol- or drug-related injuries.
Andi West-McCabe, a registered nurse from Atlantic General, said, “If someone falls because they are intoxicated and they hurt their wrists, that will be filed as a wrist injury.”
The prevalence of booze is a contributor in many of the Beach Week mishaps, officials said. “Alcohol is a factor in almost all pedestrian collisions — and most often, it is the pedestrian who is under the influence,” Levy said.
