Man writes letter of apology after being caught urinating from third deck of car park by mayor

A man who was seen by the mayor of Annapolis, Maryland, urinating off the third deck of a car park has written a letter of apology for the incident. As part of an unusual deal to avoid going to court over public urination charges, 69-year-old Richard H. Vermillion has written a letter regretting his actions to all Annapolis residents. Vermillion received a citation from Annapolis police, after Mayor Josh Cohen said he saw Vermillion with his pants down to his ankles, urinating off the side of the third deck of a parking garage.



The incident occurred at about 3:30pm on a Tuesday, next to City Hall. Vermillion told the mayor he was “following the call of the wild,” according to Cohen’s statements to police. Cohen told the man, whom he didn’t know, a restroom was on the ground floor of the garage. Instead of apologizing, the man shouted an expletive, the mayor said. It wasn’t clear whether Vermillion knew he was talking to the mayor at the time, Cohen said.

The mayor grabbed the man’s tag information before he could drive away in a white Cadillac, then asked the parking attendant to keep the garage’s gates closed until police could arrive, the report said. The maximum penalty for public urination in Annapolis is a $1,000 fine with 90 days in jail. Vermillion was scheduled for a hearing on Friday morning on criminal misdemeanor charges for public urination. Shortly before the scheduled court appearance, the state decided not to prosecute.



Cohen said he is pleased with the apology because it saved them all from wasting time in court. “My concern was I saw what I saw in the middle of the afternoon, and it was disrespectful to the residents and businesses who work so hard to make downtown a beautiful place,” Cohen said. “I understand everybody has bad days and things go wrong, but I wanted Mr. Vermillion to acknowledge that what he’s done is wrong.” In addition to the apology, Cohen said Vermillion voluntarily made a $1,000 donation to the MainStreets Annapolis Partnership to assist in downtown beautification efforts.