An Annapolis man who once publicly tussled with a Maryland state delegate over a restaurant seat died early Tuesday morning in an apparent drowning, police said.
Jeb Bello, 32, was swimming with two friends in Spa Creek early Tuesday, said Officer Hal Dalton, a spokesman for the Annapolis Police Department. During the swim, Bello?s friends noticed he was missing and called the police at about 2:50 a.m., Dalton said.
Rescue workers came to scene and found Bello unconscious. He was taken to Anne Arundel Medical Center and pronounced dead shortly after, Dalton said.
“People that live along [Spa Creek] swim there from time to time,” Dalton said, “It?s not wise, especially at night.”
An autopsy will be performed by the state medical examiner, Dalton said.
Bello was well-known in Annapolis for a bitter legal battle with state Del. Melony Griffith, D-Prince George?s. Bello, who was white, was fired from his job as a maitre d? at the Maryland Inn?s Treaty of Paris Restaurant in 1999 after refusing to seat Griffith, who is black.
He later sued Griffith, claiming that she got him fired from his job and tried to publicly portray him as a racist. Bello claimed in his lawsuit that Griffith was late for her reservation and did not want to wait for a table to be cleared. The lawsuit was later dropped.
Bello had been working as a manager of 49 West, a downtown Annapolis coffee house, for nine years, according to Paul Michalec, who also works as a manager there.
“He was a wonderful, kind and understanding man with an amazing insight,” Michalec said.
Surviving Bello are his wife and their 3-year-old son, Michalec said.
