Knife Attack At Resort Bar Leads To Assault Charges

OCEAN CITY -- A North Carolina man was arrested on first-degree assault and other charges this week after allegedly holding a knife to another man’s throat following an altercation at an uptown bar late Tuesday night.

Shortly before midnight on Tuesday, Ocean City police responded to the Skyline Bar and Grill on the eighth floor of the Fenwick Inn for a reported assault that had just occurred. Hotel staff directed the officers to the victim, a local man, who told police he had been assaulted with a knife less than half an hour before their arrival.

The victim told police he was smoking a cigarette on the bar’s outside deck when he was approached by the suspect, later identified as Robert L. Fisher, 51, of Roanoke Rapids, N.C. The victim said Fisher stood in front of him and produced a small folding knife and pressed the knife against the victim’s throat. According to police reports, Fisher told the victim he was “insane” and that he was “going to kill a mother [expletive deleted].”

The victim told police Fisher moved the knife up and down the side of his throat for several seconds, essentially shaving the victim’s neck. In fact, the victim told police Fisher even made a reference to the smoothness of his neck on the shaven side as opposed to the non-shaven side. The victim also told police, “I was scared to death.”

Investigators spoke to another witness who told police he observed Fisher hold the knife to the victim’s throat for as long as a minute. The witness told police Fisher had been in a verbal altercation with another man in the bar, and Fisher and the victim were discussing the altercation outside when Fisher produced the knife. The witness also identified the suspect as Fisher, with whom he had a discussion earlier in the day about a possible job.

Police were able to determine Fisher was staying at the hotel and went to the room where he was registered. After being invited in by a female occupant, police observed a man matching Fisher’s description sleeping on one of the beds. An orange polo shirt described by the victim and the witness was lying on the floor beside the bed.

The officers took control of Fisher’s arms and the suspect did not resist. When the officers took Fisher into custody, they observed a silver folding knife clipped to his right front pocket. Police walked the victim past the hotel room and the victim was able to identify Fisher as his attacker and also identified the knife. Fisher was arrested and charged with first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment.