A chain of five crab restaurants in the US state of Maryland is suing officials for $400,000 for allegedly failing to protect its business from protests and other activities that were a response to racist social media posts by the owners' son.
Vince's Crab House names Baltimore County executive John Olszewski, the area's top government official, and Melissa Hyatt, chief of the Baltimore County Police Department, in the lawsuit filed in a state court.
As reported earlier by Undercurrent News, the business owned by Vince and Brenda Meyer has confronted protesters in front of at least two of its locations, in the towns of Middle River and Fallston, since early June.
Screenshots of Vincent Meyer II's social media accounts that circulated online included one on Facebook where he took a jab at Black Lives Matter, writing: "There is one place I bet the protesters/rioters won't light on fire or break into or even block the road to ... the social services buildings." The message was followed by four laughing emoji.
More than 100 protesters were reported to have descended on the restaurant locations between June 6 and at least until about July 1. The Baltimore County Police Department began dispatching one to three patrol cars daily, but "failed to make any arrests, write any police reports or issue citations for illegal activity," the restaurant owners say in their 23-page civil complaint, filed in the state's Circuit Court for Baltimore County.
Brenda Meyer said she was told by police officers on several occasions that they were ordered to "stand down".
Protesters have trespassed onto the business property, opened the doors of the business to yell at customers, employees and family and followed customers to their vehicles to call them racists, the complaint said. They've followed the owners home and even attempted a physical attack on the owners' daughter, it said.
The owners said they've received telephone calls in the middle of the night and received death threats, forcing them to spend $40,000 to hire private security guards. The owner's Social Security number was reportedly posted online.
"This litigation is not about plaintiff's agreement or disagreement with the inspiration for the protesters, or the viewpoints expressed by the people occupying that area," the complaint states. "Instead, it is about the Baltimore County's active, knowing endorsement and support of a destructive occupation of a small Middle River business to the detriment of the well-being of those who own, patronize, and work in the small business."
Linda Brown, the Laurel, Maryland-based attorney representing the restaurant chain, did not return earlier calls from Undercurrent for comment. However, as reported earlier, the owner's son tried apologizing for his posts, commenting that 75% of his parents' customer base is black.
"I have a ton of remorse," Vincent Meyer II said in a video. "I haven't been able to express it. Obviously my apology video wasn't apologetic enough. ... I was kind of blindsided. I wasn't prepared. Some of the stuff was so old I had forgotten I had even said these things."
The protesters, meanwhile, have presented a different story. They told a local station that the business owners came outside, taunted them and aimed sprinklers at them, creating an environment that caused customers to threaten protesters with violence, even spitting. One June 21, police arrested one man for threatening protesters at the Middle River business with a bat, the Baltimore Sun reported.
"Until we see a 'For Lease' sign on the building, our mission is to keep pressing on, our mission is to change this world into a world where racism is not tolerated," said Kellie Vaughn, a woman who reported to be the leader of the "Shut Down VCH Protest".
July 20, 2020 at 10:51PM
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US crab chain sues county officials for not protecting business from protests - Undercurrent News
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