Brawl at Kentlands Bar Leads to Assault Charges Against Prince George’s Sheriff

A Prince George’s County Sheriff's deputy faces three assault charges stemming from a fight at a Kentlands nightspot that started after he allegedly slapped a woman’s backside.

Michael Zachery Barrack, 27, of Rockville is charged in Montgomery County District Court with two counts of second-degree assault and one count of fourth-degree sexual assault as a result of the August brawl at the .

Barrack has been with the sheriff's office since July 2007. He has been reassigned to administrative duties, according to a spokeswoman.

His trial was set to begin Friday but was postponed until April because of a procedural mix-up.

Barrack’s attorney, Barry Helfand, declined to comment.

Court documents describe the following scenario at Star Diner in the early-morning hours of Aug. 6:

A 26-year-old Derwood woman was mingling in the bar's outside area shortly before last call when an unknown male—later identified as Barrack—“slapped her butt” as she was talking to someone else. The woman told her friend, a 25-year-old Derwood man, who confronted Barrack and told him not to “disrespect her like that.”

The friend “became angry and began yelling” at Barrack, according to the police report written that night, and the confrontation escalated.

“It became physical, and others [were] getting involved,” according to the report.

The report does not say whether he was in uniform, only that he was wearing a black shirt. And the report does not indicate who initiated the fight.

The application for Barrack’s arrest, written in December, states that Barrack pulled the friend’s shirt over his head and punched him twice in the face. When the woman tried to intervene, Barrack shoved her, she fell on glass and needed six stitches on her leg and eight stitches on her left hand. She had surgery on her hand a week later to repair three torn tendons.

Barrack told police that night that he did not slap her backside, but rather that the woman had been talking with a friend of his and “poked him in his butt.”

“He thought they were playing around,” according to the report.

When the fight broke out, Barrack said he was pushing people away after he had been punched in the face and did not know if he had pushed the woman.

An employee of Star Diner told police that he saw Barrack push the woman to the ground.

A Montgomery County police officer was already on the scene responding to a noise complaint when the fight began. The officer and restaurant security broke it up and removed Barrack from the premises. The woman's friends took her to the hospital. No charges were filed that night.

Barrack was charged four months later. In January, he filed a charge of second-degree assault against the woman’s friend. The prosecutor in both cases, Assistant State’s Attorney Stephen Chaikin, dropped Barrack's complaint on Thursday.

“We’ve got a number of witnesses that are going to testify against Mr. Barrack, and what he’s saying contradicts what all the witnesses are going to say,” Chaikin said.

Second-degree assault carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail and/or a $2,500 fine. Fourth-degree sex offense carries up to one year in jail and/or a $1,000.