From left, Erik Sabelstrom, 19, of Colorado Springs, Colo.; Brad Kadlubowski, 19, of Colorado Springs, Colo.; Madisen Grinnell, 18, of Sacramento, Calif.; and Harrison Yost, 19, of Auburn, Ala. were among about 10 midshipmen caught in a protest Saturday in Baltimore. The midshipmen directed families to the back of a Subway sandwich shop when protesters began throwing chairs through the windows. (Capital Gazette)
Several Navy Midshipmen were caught in the Baltimore rioting on Saturday near Camden Yards. The midshipmen directed families to safety protecting them from the violent mob.
The Capital Gazette reported:
A patio chair smashed the sandwich shop window.
Glass fell around Midshipman Brad Kadlubowski, seated before a window, at the Subway shop in Baltimore.
Inside, a father steered his wife and two children to the back of the shop on Saturday. His son has asthma; the father worried about tear gas.
Another chair smashed another window.
Everyone to the back, the midshipmen instructed.
Families and Naval Academy midshipmen had come for dinner before Saturday’s Orioles game. Protests over the death of Freddie Gray began peacefully that day, but ended with confrontation. By Monday, the day of Gray’s funeral, protests escalated with violence. At least seven officers were injured Monday afternoon and the Orioles game was postponed.
Some midshipmen didn’t know about the ongoing protests when they arrived Saturday in Baltimore.
“I didn’t realize it would be so close to Camden Yards,” said Midshipman Madisen Grinnell, 18, of Sacramento, Calif., on Monday.
She and nine other midshipmen found themselves caught in the protests.
These midshipmen directed families to the back of the Subway. Then they lined up, in front of families, as protesters passed outside, some throwing rocks. Women and children gathered farthest from the windows, except for Grinnell, the only female there from the Naval Academy.
“You’re in the military and a midshipmen — you should be in the front,” she insisted.
Kadlubowski, of Colorado Springs, Colo., was uninjured when glass fell around him. He escorted the store manager to the door.
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