Vince's Crab House Owner Sues Baltimore County Over Protests

MIDDLE RIVER, MD — The owner of a popular group of restaurants and crab houses plans to sue Baltimore County after protests at one of the locations led to a temporary shutdown. Demonstrations began at a Middle River crab house once derogatory social media posts by the owner, Vince Meyer, came to light after the death of George Floyd in police custody.

Meyer closed his five Vince's Crab House locations June 6 for more than a week. Vince's Crab House has locations in Fallston, Dundalk, Middle River, North Point and Manchester.

When the restaurants reopened June 15, the Baltimore Sun reported police and private security were on site, and so were protesters.

Vince's Crab House has filed a complaint against Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr., after ongoing protests at the Middle River restaurant, reported Fox Baltimore. The businessman, his family and employees have been followed to their homes and harassed on social media, a statement said.

"Vince’s Crab House, a family owned small business, has been under attack by so-called protestors in the Middle River area for more than one month," according to a news release. "The family, consisting of husband and wife, daughter and son, plus employees, customers and delivery vendors have been subjugated to death threats, assaults, followed to their homes, harassment on their private property, shouting racist remarks at customers and placing photos on Facebook."

Meyer contends police took no action outside Vince's, because Olszewski ordered officers to stand down.

"As a result of this criminal activity, the family had to hire private security, costing them $40,000. Moreover, the business has suffered large financial losses," Fox reported the statement said.

The Meyer family has asked the county attorney and Olszewski to pay for damages suffered by the business, WBAL reports. If the county doesn't act the family will seek a court order demanding county police protect the location.

Others steps the family is considering include criminal and civil action against protesters.

Meyer plans to hold a news conference July 1 to talk about the controversy.

A man was arrested June 20 after police said he threatened protesters with a bat outside Vince's Crab House in Middle River. He had been arguing and appeared intoxicated, according to officials.

Police said officers were already at the location in the 600 block of Compass Road when the man, who had exchanged words with the demonstrators, went to his car, got a bat and was approaching the protesters when law enforcement intervened.

Keith Francis Duvall, of the 700 block of Fifth Avenue in Halethorpe, was charged with second-degree assault, driving while impaired by alcohol and disorderly conduct.

The arrest came two weeks after Meyer posted on Facebook June 1 regarding the nationwide protests in the wake of Floyd's death in Minneapolis.

CBS Baltimore reported the post from Vince Meyer read: "There is one place I bet protesters/rioters won't light on fire or break into or even block the road to…the social services building."

As an acknowledgement of the public outcry, Meyer closed all of his businesses for nine days.

See Also:

• Owner Of Vince's Crabhouse Plans To Reopen Restaurants: Report
• Vince's Crabhouse Closes All Locations For 9 Days After Protests