Woman Arrested After Removing Barrier And Driving Through Street Festival In Maryland

A Maryland woman is facing charges for allegedly taking down barriers and driving into a street festival on Saturday, injuring a police officer.

The Laurel Police Department said officers were working to maintain roadblocks for the Main Street Festival on Saturday when 28-year-old Kai Deberry-Bostick drove through a barrier and into the crowd in an effort to leave the area.

Body-worn camera video shared by the police department shows Deberry-Bostick in her vehicle at a barrier, becoming distressed about being unable to leave the area.

“I apologize for the inconvenience,” an officer can be heard saying. “I’d be happy to call you a taxi.”

“I’m not taking a taxi all the way to Virginia,” Deberry-Bostick says. “I work in Virginia.”

Deberry-Bostick begins repeating, “I need to get out,” becoming agitated. She then gets out of the car to remove police caution tape, and the officer tells her she can’t do that.

“I’ve gotta go to work, what do you want me to do?” she says. She then rips the caution tape from a portable bollard. She returns to her vehicle and the officer stands in front of it while he radios for assistance.

Deberry-Bostick then drives forward slowly, striking the officer as he shouts, “Stop!”

She then drives slowly into the crowd, saying, “Excuse me, y’all,” out her open window. She continues driving forward amid shouts from the crowd, as the officer continues calling after her to stop. The crowd surrounded her vehicle, stopping her, as the officer banged on her vehicle and ordered her to get out of the car.

Deberry-Bostick was arrested and booked into jail on multiple charges including assault, resisting arrest, and reckless endangerment.

The police officer sustained minor injuries, police said, bot no festival attendees were injured in the incident.

According to reports, the annual Main Street Festival got off to a late start after a propane tank explosion in which one person was injured. City officials announced the 9 a.m. parade was cancelled due to the explosion, which occurred while a food vendor was setting up. The festival went on to open at 11 a.m.

Mayor Keith Snydor said during a press conference that there would be no investigation into the cause of the explosion, which was determined to be a “negligent accident.”