2020's "unofficial" H2Oi came with a side of a cop punching a guy in the face

"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
09/27/2020 at 09:59 • Filed to: None

H2Oi is a car meet in the beach town of Ocean City, MD that used to be an organized VW/Audi event, focused on water cooled cars, hence the name. Due to increasingly unruly crowds, the last time it was held as an official event was 2016. Since then, it’s been kept up through informal organizing online.

For the record, I think H2Oi at this point in time has a lot of cool cars, a lot of stupid shitty cars, and while not everyone who goes is a chode, a few too many of the attendees are “That Guy” from your local Cars & Coffee.

Here’s how local Ocean City officials feel about H2Oi.

A couple years ago the state of Maryland !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ...

[A]llowing authorities in Worcester County to designate Special Event Zones during large events, particularly motor events. The new legislation allows officials to lower speed limits in the Special Event Zone. Similar to a Construction Zone, violators will face increased fines if speeding in a Special Event Zone.

Special Event Zones are in place during motor events in Ocean City. Signage on roadways will indicate where those Zones are in effect. Citizens are urged to drive with caution in Special Event Zones and be cognizant of speed.

Thousands of car enthusiasts are expected in Ocean City for the event and citizens should expect to see a large police presence. Officers from allied agencies will be assisting the Ocean City Police Department (OCPD), including the Maryland State Police, Worcester County Sheriff’s Office, Maryland Transportation Authority, and Maryland Natural Resources Police.

Officers will be strictly enforcing all traffic laws. Additionally, pedestrians are urged to Walk Smart! and always use crosswalks when crossing roadways. Wait for the signal to change and be sure that drivers see you while crossing.

It’s not mentioned in the link above, but getting your car impounded during the Special Event Zone means !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . So...there were a lot of H2Oi cars in impound!

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There are of course already a few videos on youtube “bragging” about getting their cars impounded this year.

But, it wouldn’t be a large unruly gathering with a large police presence in 2020 without some people getting in fights with the cops.

On Friday night along Baltimore Ave, the main drag in Ocean City, someone in the crowd !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Someone else jumped out of the crowd and tried to get the cops off the guy who shot off the fireworks. Uhh, not the smartest idea there pal.

Later on in the evening, the cops sprayed skunk spray or some other kind of official cop stink bomb device in an attempt to disperse the crowd.

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Saturday also involved at least one !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

Apparently what happened here is there was a large group of people chanting “H2O! H2O!” at the cops for some reason or another. The cops tried to grab a That Guy in a red shirt, who managed to squiggle away from them. Then another That Guy yelled, “HE GOT AWAY BRO HE GOT AWAY!” at which point one of the cops punched That Guy #2 in the face and tackled him.

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I think at this point the only way to sum this up is, 2020 gonna 2020, H20i gonna H20i, and cops gonna punch people in the face.

DISCUSSION (22)

ranwhenparked > Textured Soy Protein
09/27/2020 at 10:07

I saw much smaller parades of dipshits driving south this year than usual, figured that signaled a lower key event. But, it probably translated to dipshits constituting a greater share of attendees than usual.

I did used to have accounts down in Fenwick Island, and they did tell me their e-vapor sales spiked way up during that weekend, so something positive, I guess.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Textured Soy Protein
09/27/2020 at 10:29

I’m not a fan of cops, but I’m also not a fan of this type of car culture. Have your hobbies, but don’t make life a nightmare for locals and don't dangerously modify your pos. And the fucking cops just love proving their stereotypes. Ugh.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Textured Soy Protein
09/27/2020 at 10:49

I’ve been watching the Twitter and Snapchat posts. For the record, I used to be a OCMD homeowner and still have many friends on the island. What the police have done this week is inexcusable and shows that, no matter how much the focus of “police reform” is in the media and the public eye, cops are still going to act like they’re at war with their citizens and that the public is some pest that needs to be dealt with.

A vast majority of people at H2oi are civil, there’s not that many fights considering how many people are there and rarely is there any major destruction to property. Yet the whole year leading up to this, the OCPD only talked about the steps they’re going to take to keep these “hoodlums” out of their precious town and throw the book at those that show up. I’m sure next year they’re going to compel hotels to close and only let residents cross the bridges.

The way they’re handling traffic this year is ridiculous, closing roads and forcing people off the island (so it can be Ocean Pines’ problem?), it’s creating more traffic headaches than if they just let them be. That’s my point, I guess. If the police just disappeared and let the crowds be, there wouldn’t be the incentive of the crowds to stir up shit with the police and it likely would be much more peaceful.

Textured Soy Protein > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
09/27/2020 at 11:03

I agree t he crowds generally aren’t too bad but I think you’d agree there are more shenanigans than your typical car meet.

My impression of the eastern shore & Delmarva peninsula in general is that car enthusiasts are considered “hoodlums” and “not from around here” and thus targeted. There may or may not be some kind of racism component to it. T he people in the car scene around places like DC & Baltimore are highly diverse and, thanks to their cars, easy to spot when they go to the beach .

The only time I’ve ever been hassled in 7 years of running no front plate was heading into downtown St. Michael’s on the way home from my parents’ vacation house that’s about 10 miles outside of town. Cop let me off with a warning after I conveniently mentioned that I was visiting my parents who lived nearby. I wonder why that was .

Jarrett - [BRZ Boi] > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
09/27/2020 at 11:16

Totally agree. It’s only a problem because Karens made it a problem.

If everyone just live and let lived, these guys would have their car meet, (bringing economic stimulus to the area), and simply leave with no issues .

Now you’ve got some kind of Streisand effect creating a “rite of passage” to participate in some capacity, for better or for worse. I’m sure this is also why they’re going to the same city over-and-over again.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Textured Soy Protein
09/27/2020 at 11:20

I think calling it a car meet is a bit disingenuous. I’m not sure what the right term is, though, when you bring 5000+ people together for the purposes of showing off.

Yeah, there’s a lot of people causing a ruckus. Burnouts, donuts, racing, shutting down intersections for burnout pits, I get it. And if the police wanted to prevent the intersections along Baltimore Ave from turning into burnout pits, they could have one officer per intersection directing traffic. Let them do burnouts on the side streets in front of the hotels, let them congregate in the Acme parking lot. Yes it’s unpleasant for the residents, but it’s just as unpleasant as Crusing weekend or, god, bike week, which I argue is worse.

Maybe I’m an unfair voice because I always liked going to H2oi and looking at the cars, especially the $5k+ paint jobs, just because of the creativity from a lot of the owners. I wouldn’t want to drive or own a slammed tuner car with straight pipes, but I respect the time and money that went into them.

fintail > Textured Soy Protein
09/27/2020 at 11:25

Maybe someone just needed some paid time off.

DipodomysDeserti > Textured Soy Protein
09/27/2020 at 11:26

At least the town of Sturgis somewhat wanted the “enthusiasts” to show up. Seems like there’s about the same level of mask wearing and social distancing.

Textured Soy Protein > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
09/27/2020 at 11:37

The problem comes down to the fact that being into hopping up cars is dumb and stupid and fun and some folks take it a little farther than they should. Get enough people participating in an inherently dumb activity and there’s bound to be some shenanigans.

Hell, I’m a 38 year old grownup and have had a long succession of tastefully (IMHO) hopped up cars ever since I could afford to buy cars. I love going and seeing a bunch of cool cars but it’s too easy to end up with a misbehaving crowd.

My opinion is the only way to ensure a successful, hassle-free weekend like this is for the the community and law enforcement to work with the event. In my experience, if you give car people an officially-sanctioned way to get their jollies off without fear of repercussions , they will by and large go that route rather than make themselves a nuisance.

I don’t know to what extent the organizers and cops tried that before the organizers pulled out, but now that it’s an informally organized event where people just show up based on a bunch of facebook group and forum posts, it would be up to the local government to figure out a way to facilitate rather than enforce. But they don’t seem to be interested in that and instead keep thinking that they can just be more and more harsh and that will act as a deterrent.

Textured Soy Protein > DipodomysDeserti
09/27/2020 at 11:40

No masks on the cops either. Although the one dude on the left is “at least” wearing gloves...

Kinja'd!!!

Tohru > Textured Soy Protein
09/27/2020 at 11:47

I’ve never been able to wrap my head around the things that happen at H2Oi. You take your modified car to a city where the police have stated they’re gonna impound modified cars, then you brag on social media about getting $1700 in fines when they impound your car? It makes no sense. Do they not have a better use for their $1700? I don’t even drive fast anymore because I hate having to give cops money for speeding tickets, and the most I’ve ever had was about $270. Maybe it’s cause I’ve always been poor and if I got a car impounded with $1700 in fines I’d have to just sign the title over to them.

Textured Soy Protein > Jarrett - [BRZ Boi]
09/27/2020 at 11:50

This is not simply a Karen problem. H2Oi started out as a VW/Audi show that was near Ocean City, and since Ocean City is a beach town, most people who went to the show would go have fun there.

As the stance & VW scenes became increasingly co- mingled, more and more stancebros of all sorts would show up for the weekend surrounding the show than the show itself. The local cops hated the obviously not-very-functional stanced cars running all over town and causing shenanigans.

It escalated into a whole big cat-n-mouse thing between stancebros & cops until the official event organizers had enough and cancelled the official show . Since then, the informal stancebros-invade-town part has continued unabated.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Textured Soy Protein
09/27/2020 at 12:17

I would love for them to close down and clear out the airport off Decatur Hwy for the weekend , encourage camping, and make it like Firefly but for cars.

DipodomysDeserti > Textured Soy Protein
09/27/2020 at 12:32

Our best and brightest don’t usually become cops.

Cash Rewards > Jarrett - [BRZ Boi]
09/27/2020 at 12:43

There’s the car meet, and there’s everything else. It’s the everything else that the community wants to crack down on. I believe they moved the car meet a year or two ago, so now it’s only the "everything else”, which is burnouts, racing, etc.

ranwhenparked > Textured Soy Protein
09/27/2020 at 14:08

Delmarva has a major NIMBY problem. Most of the towns on this peninsula are impoverish, drug ridden hell holes, most of the people have no concept of the wider world beyond their street. As soon as COVID started, everyone was pointing figures at “those people” from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York and acting like we’d magically have no problem if everyone stopped coming here, ignoring that the outbreaks started with undocumented workers at chicken processing plants in Sussex and with students coming back from spring break at the University of Delaware. There would be hardly any economy at all in Lower Delaware or Eastern Maryland if it wasn't for people from out of state coming here and spending money at the beach in the summer, but everyone loves blaming all problems on out of state tourists and bitching about them all summer. COVID just made it much worse and much nastier, look at the comments on articles from Delaware news outlets to see it - the virus has made people here mean, really mean and inhospitable.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Jarrett - [BRZ Boi]
09/27/2020 at 22:32

A friend being a bit over 2 our aways would go down for the bike and classic car weekend often for a day . Shenanagins happen then too, but those demographics are older and quiet down a bit earlier. And they don’t cram 8 people into a hotel room, so they dump a bit more stimulu s to the area which is why some locals may have a greater patience for shitshow .

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Textured Soy Protein
09/27/2020 at 22:45

I think the lack of spending by h20 attendees also plays into the lack of patience by the locals. It is much more like spring break with overcrowding hotel roms. Also I think the “h2- crowd” causes a lot mor e stuff at night. Again little patience from the locals and cops.

Your boy, BJR > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
09/28/2020 at 17:15

My grandfather is a seasonal resident of OC and owns a home there, as such I’m also familiar with the place, the people, and the policing. I’ve never been down there for H2Oi, but this year I attended jeep week. Not saying there’s a connection, but the police were much more welcoming and helpful to the J eepers (vast majority of whom were flying TBL colors) than I’ve seen them with any other modified cars crowds.

Your boy, BJR > Textured Soy Protein
09/28/2020 at 17:19

Man those cops sure are a particularly nasty brand of complete cocksucker, aren’t they?

hillrat > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
09/29/2020 at 12:26

I’m right there with you. Have fun, do your thing, and have some respect for the people around you.

I guess it’s the blessing of maturity but when I go somewhere to do something and everything is beautiful and awesome, I want to do what I can to keep it beautiful and awesome for the next people that come along so they can enjoy it just like I did .

Leaving trash and acting like an asshole? I t’s not the guy I want to be.

Textured Soy Protein > Your boy, BJR
10/03/2020 at 09:05

The other thing about Jeeps is that Maryland *loves* Jeeps. I’m right outside DC and among the local brodozer crowd , it’s like 85% Wranglers, 10% 4Runners, 4% pickups and 1% other SUVs. Pickups get much more common the father you get from DC and Baltimore but Jeeps are super popular all over the state. So there's probably much more of a perception among the cops that the Jeepers are locals and/or from other suitably "real murrican" type places.