Police report, body cam footage: What prompted police response in Belmar surfer incident?

BELMAR - The confrontation between a surfer and police last week stemmed from recent gate attendant complaints that surfers were ignoring their requests to show their badges, according to police reports.

Beach gate attendants have complained of multiple surfers entering through the dunes and ignoring attendants' requests to show their beach badges, according to police documents. Because of this, the borough’s special police officers were stationed at the 17th through 19th Avenue beach to help attendants check for badges, the report said.

In the arrest report of the surfer, 28-year-old Liam Mahoney of Junction City, California, the involved special police officer, Ryan Braswell, said that Mahoney did not have a beach badge. From there, the interaction spiraled.

Mahoney’s arrest sparked an outcry in the surfing community, many of whom questioned the arrest and the need for a beach badge on social media. It also prompted a petition drive on change.org seeking to “decriminalize beach access,” which had garnered more than 1,400 signatures since it was posted on Aug. 23.

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