Margate Spring Fling 2024 Aims for Enhanced Security After Past Controversies

By Kevin Deutsch

The Spring Break Fair in Margate was shut down Saturday night due to “chaos, disturbances, fights, and in the interest of public and officer safety” after a series of violent clashes between fairgoers, police records show.

The chaos began shortly before 10 p.m. at 1000 N. State Rd. 7, according to a Margate Police Department incident report, marking the latest instance of violence at the event.

“By this time, the fair had become very busy, with long lines and large crowds everywhere,” wrote one Margate police officer, working an off-duty detail at the fair. “There were many juveniles and teenagers without parents or guardians present. I was advised several times about possible fights prior to this time….Around this time, I began to see large crowds running in different directions.”

“As one large crowd ran toward us at the south entrance to the fair, I observed a fight begin in the middle of it….Another fight broke out near our location…other officers went to break up the secondary fights.”

“Additional backup was requested from road patrol due to the large crowds and officers being severely outnumbered,” the officer wrote. “As instigators were located, they were trespassed from within the fair. However, they would often jump the fence back into the fair or cause secondary disturbances and fights in the parking lot, outside fenced area of the fair. Large groups were pushed back at points as they tried to get close to officers dealing with very rapidly evolving and fluid situations.”

The on-duty supervisor for the police department’s fair detail “made the decision to shut down the fair for the evening due to the amount of chaos, disturbances, fights, and in the interest of public and officer safety,” according to the report.

As police worked to disperse the crowds, officers “observed large crowds continue to fight at points and yell profanities at officers,” the officer wrote.

“At one point, I tried to place an unknown [female] into custody for trespass after warning; however, she slapped at me and pulled away. [Another officer] suggested I quit trying to effect the arrest due to the large crowd. I made the decision to stop trying to grab and arrest the female, knowing it may only cause the crowd to become more agitated and aggressive.”

Police continued working to break up the crowds and requested mutual aid from other agencies, the records show. Large groups began to congregate at a nearby Marathon gas station and Walmart, Denny’s, and the Chevy Chase Plaza, police said.

“At one point, an officer called out “Shots Fired” in the Chevy Chase Plaza across from the fair,” and an unidentified male was seen running from the area, according to the report.

“[An officer] said to me, “He has something in his hand,” the officer wrote in the incident report.

“Not knowing if this was a possible shooter, I pointed my department-issued handgun toward the subject and activated my gun light to illuminate him. I only observed a cell phone. We did not further pursue the subject.”

Police said they saw many people running from the area but did not spot anyone with a firearm or find any shooting victims or shell casings.

At one point, police searching for evidence of the possible shooting approached a group of males loitering near a red Toyota sedan, asking them if they had witnessed a shooting, the report states.

The males told the officers, “it was only fireworks,” after which the officers told them to leave.

Police later spotted the same Toyota near Denny’s, with the males again loitering in the parking lot, records show. Officers also smelled marijuana smoke coming from the vehicle.

“As I approached the vehicle, I ordered the occupants to put their hands up,” the officer wrote. “The front seat passenger then began reaching down under the seat. I drew my department-issued handgun and pointed it at him, yelling loudly for him to put his hands up as I did not know what he was doing, especially since this vehicle was also at the scene of the possible shooting.”

The man complied, and police searched the Toyota, records show. The car’s occupants were released a short time later.

It was not clear from the police report when the fair reopened.

Violence has been a problem at the event before.

In November 2021, a 91-year-old woman, Meredeth Bartels, was wounded when a stray bullet fired from the fairgrounds struck her, according to court records.

Brandon Craig, 40, a carnival worker at the fair, allegedly fired two shots during a dispute with another carnival worker, wounding Bartels in the process, police said.

Craig, of Royal Palm Beach, was charged with attempted felony murder, aggravated battery with a firearm, carrying a concealed firearm, and battery, records show. He is being held without bond at the Broward Main Jail while awaiting trial.

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Kevin Deutsch

Kevin Deutsch is an award-winning crime journalist and author. A graduate of Florida International University, Kevin has worked on staff at The Miami Herald, New York Daily News, and The Palm Beach Post.