Selbyville police and Delaware State Police from Troop 4 responded this past Sunday evening, July 13, around 1 a.m., to a brawl outside of Erin’s Pub and Dublin Steakhouse in Selbyville. Officers were called to the scene in the parking lot of the Mason Dixon Shopping Center after a domestic dispute that started inside the bar spilled outside, resulting in a gathering of more than 200 people, some of whom were engaged in fist fights.
At the close of the incident, police arrested a 25-year-old Frankford man, who allegedly assaulted a police officer when he pushed him to the ground. Matthew J. Taylor was charged with offensive touching of a law-enforcement officer after allegedly knocking a Selbyville officer to the ground, noted state police spokesman Cpl. Gary Fournier.
Taylor had allegedly pushed the officer from behind while the officer was trying to subdue a combative man with a Taser. The man being Tasered escaped and could not be located by police.
“It’s not always easy to control a crowd that size,” said Fournier. “We have no other leads on the man who was Tasered.”
Taylor was released on $1,000 unsecured bail. The officer was not injured in the incident.
The incident has generated some concern from Selbyville Police Chief W. Scott Collins.
“This isn’t the first time we’ve had an incident here,” he said. “There have been several fights resulting from this bar. We’re attempting to work with the business owner, but we’re not receiving much cooperation.”
Collins noted that officers at the Selbyville police station had previously contacted the owner of Erin’s Pub and Dublin Steakhouse regarding issues with overcrowding.
“It’s a small bar,” Collins added, “and even if you allot one car for every person in there, we’ve had times when there were well over 150 people inside. The last time an incident occurred, we suggested that the proprietor consider hiring security for his business.”
The establishment sports live entertainment on particular nights, including Sundays, which draws larger crowds of patrons to the pub.
“When we got the call,” said Collins, “we contacted numerous agencies, including ones from Georgetown, to come down with K9 units. You don’t want to find a small group among 200 angry people.”
Not all of those 200 people were engaged in the fight, but rather, several small fights had taken place, he noted. According to Collins, two other arrests were made that night, with charges related to disorderly conduct and offensive touching. The two people involved in the initial domestic dispute in the pub were never apprehended or located among the chaos and confusion.
“Erin’s Pub was the only store open in the shopping center at the time of the incident,” said Collins. “We have to look into how we’re going to handle this situation. None of the other restaurants that serve alcohol in Selbyville have given us this type of problem.”