Remember that video from last year, showing a partygoer at the 2013 Shamrock The Block event in Shockoe Bottom getting into a fistfight with multiple police officers? Sure you do! Well, get this–Jason Dotson, the man at the center of that fracas, was arrested this past Saturday in Shockoe Bottom. Once again, he was charged with assaulting a police officer.
Remember that video from last year, showing a partygoer at the 2013 Shamrock The Block event in Shockoe Bottom getting into a fistfight with multiple police officers? Sure you do! Well, get this–Jason Dotson, the man at the center of that fracas, was arrested this past Saturday in Shockoe Bottom. Once again, he was charged with assaulting a police officer.
This doesn’t entirely count as a repeat performance–technically, Dotson was arrested at 2:30 AM, over 8 hours before this year’s Shockoe Fest event began.
But it has to make you wonder what kind of strange supernatural power might be at work when the same man gets arrested a year later on the same day for the same crime.
According to WRIC TV-8, Dotson was arrested outside of the Off The Hookah nightclub and “charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct and assault on a law enforcement officer.” Last year’s charges against Dotson were eventually dropped, perhaps reflecting divided opinions within the community about whether Dotson or the police officers involved in the altercation were really at fault for the incident.
In the wake of last year’s controversy–and, perhaps not unrelatedly, at a time when there’s been a good deal of public debate about the mayor’s plan to build a baseball stadium in Shockoe Bottom–Shamrock The Block promoters Three One One Productions made the choice to move this year’s event to the Boulevard, rather than holding it in Shockoe Bottom as it had been in previous years.
Shockoe Bottom businesses responded by banding together with Summit Media Group and creating Shockoe Fest, an event held in Shockoe Bottom on the same day as the traditional celebration of Shamrock The Block.
Reports indicate that both Shamrock The Block on Boulevard and Shockoe Fest in the Bottom went off without a hitch, and were, according to WTVR TV-6, much calmer than the 2013 edition of Shamrock The Block.
However, for Dotson, St. Patrick’s Day weekend appears to be cursed. Whether his charges this year will be dropped or not remains to be seen, but regardless, we hope for his sake he can avoid any similar situations in 2015.
Check out the viral video of the 2013 Shamrock The Block altercation below:
