A Prince George’s County councilwoman is being charged with assaulting an employee for starting a meeting without her. Youth Commission head W. Randy Short filed a complaint against Marilynn Bland in District Court, saying that Bland screamed and shoved him during a swearing-in ceremony at the County Administration Building in Upper Marlboro.
According to the written statement by Short, soon after the event started, Bland called him to her office visibly upset.
“She grabbed me by the collar and yelled at me … cursing and shoving me telling me I was crazy. … She kept screaming, ‘How could you start the meeting without me!’?”
The charge, first reported Monday by The Washington Post, was filed in front of a court commissioner Sunday, 11 days after the alleged incident occurred. The commissioner issued the charging document.
The second-degree felony carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $2,500 fine. A court date has not been scheduled.
Bland (D-Clinton) was out of town Monday and could not be reached for comment, according to her chief of staff and Short’s immediate boss, David Billings.
Billings said he attended the ceremony and has talked to Short on several occasions since then, but Monday’s call from The Washington Examiner was the first he heard of any complaint by Short against Bland.
“That sounds a little hideous to me. Randy Short is a big fellow, and I’m sure that Councilwoman Bland could not have pushed him around,” Billings said.
Billings said he talked to Short after the ceremony about beginning it before the scheduled start time. Short said he wanted to get started because the audience appeared restless, Billings said.
Short did not return messages Monday, but he was quoted by the Post as saying he delayed filing the complaint because he had been waiting for an apology that never came.
“I don’t want to get fired and get a bad reference. So I better have this document because if they fire me tomorrow, they’ll think I can’t do anything,” Short was quoted as saying.
The state’s attorney’s spokesman, Ramon Korionoff, said the office received the paperwork Monday and will take a “long, thorough and deliberate” look at the facts to determine whether to pursue the charges.
