By Amy L. Edwards
The Orlando Sentinel
Related: Details emerge in attack on cop at water park
ORLANDO — An Orlando police officer was rushed by 50 to 75 people Sunday afternoon, some of whom reportedly then punched him, when he tried to arrest a disorderly teen who had refused to leave the Wet ‘n Wild water park.
Orange County jail records show that Officer David McKinnon asked Midelend Jean of Deerfield Beach to leave the park because she was verbally abusing employees who asked her not to lie on the gift-shop floor. McKinnon wrote in a charging affidavit obtained by the Orlando Sentinel that he repeatedly asked Jean to leave, but the 18-year-old refused and cursed at him.
McKinnon’s report says that when he tried to arrest the teen, she pulled her arm out of his reach and started to jog away. The officer caught up with Jean at a curb, where a group of people, including her friends and relatives, ran toward him.
Some of those people got on top of McKinnon, which made it impossible to handcuff the 18-year-old. McKinnon said he was punched several times in the back and neck and called for immediate backup.
Jean was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting an officer without violence and trespassing after warning.
On Monday, an Orlando police spokesman said there were no new developments to discuss publicly about several fights that occurred at the International Drive water park Sunday, or a parking-lot melee that included a shooting.
Orlando police earlier said Michael Roosevelt, 18, of Pompano Beach was shot in the leg and his 16-year-old brother was struck in the upper lip, possibly by a rock, in the Wet ‘n Wild parking lot.
Officers found a .22-caliber handgun in one of 32 buses that carried an estimated 1,600 high-school students from South Florida to International Drive for an organized outing, but Officer Jim Young did not say Monday whether that weapon was used in the shooting.
A Wet ‘n Wild spokeswoman said proper security preparations were in place when the crowd of teenagers created a melee in the parking lot and Roosevelt was shot.
In a written statement, Linda Orgera-Cataldo said the park was fully prepared for the attendance it received, supplementing its own security with a larger-than-usual Orlando police presence.
“The safety of our guests has been and continues to be our priority,” she stated. “We believe we had made adequate security preparations for Sunday’s event.”
Tom Schroder, a spokesman for Universal Orlando Resort, which owns Wet ‘n Wild, said the company does not publicly disclose its parks’ capacity figures. The company also does not disclose attendance figures or estimates.
Young said the water park hires off-duty officers for peak attendance days, but it was not known how many off-duty officers were working or how many law-enforcement officers ended up responding to the attraction during the mayhem.
Young said his agency’s detectives continue to sort out Sunday’s events.
“There’s so much information and there’s so many witnesses, the detectives are just bogged down,” he said.
Copyright 2008 The Orlando Sentinel