From Sheriff Travis Allen,
On Saturday, May 17, 2025, The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office was proud to work alongside the Salisbury Police Department to assist in providing security for the successful Cheerwine Festival. The City of Salisbury Police Department and the City of Salisbury did an excellent job of coordinating the emergency service and security plan for this event.
Law enforcement officers and emergency personnel were coordinated and supervised in a way that made this event one of safety, security and fun. I as Sheriff was in attendance for most of the event.
The Cheerwine Festival is a fantastic community event where tens of thousands of attendees from across the county, North Carolina and even Southeastern United States come to enjoy a day of food, music, shopping and festivities.
Toward the end of the day a mob of uncontrolled and unsupervised minors decided to dampen the festival by their riotous and criminal behavior. This was the only significant incident from the entire day and was quickly dealt with by the dozens of law enforcement officers on the scene.
It is unfortunate that such a great community event was tarnished by the delinquent actions of criminal, unsupervised young adults. As a result of this criminal and dangerous behavior two local law enforcement officers received very serious injuries.
A Salisbury City Police Officer received a severe concussion. A Deputy Sheriff from the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office received a severely fractured hip and was taken by ambulance from the festival to Novant Health Rowan Medical Center where he received excellent care. He was transported the same evening to Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte where this morning he underwent a long surgery where doctors repaired his severely fractured hip. This young deputy will most likely suffer with the results of this injury for the rest of his life.
As the Sheriff of Rowan County, I am extremely angered and concerned that these criminal offenders were released from custody with no immediate consequences for their actions nor any regard for the safety of the community. The City of Salisbury Police did everything in their power to be granted secure custody orders on these criminals but were denied.
The North Carolina Juvenile Justice System is broken and has led to the empowerment of minors to do exactly what happened Saturday evening.
We wonder why our streets are filled with violence and gun fire. The answer is obvious. The laws of the State of North Carolina have stripped the enforcement power of law enforcement officials in combating these issues. The only thing that street criminals understand is force and consequence. Right now, there is neither to offset their actions.
It is time that parents and guardians be held criminally and civilly responsible for the actions of these unsupervised and out of control minors. I am requesting that the North Carolina State Department of Juvenile Justice grant “secure custody orders” on
every minor involved in the incident.
The City of Salisbury Police and the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office should be granted the authority to re-arrest these individuals and hold them accountable for their actions. To see one of my outstanding deputies laying in an emergency room bed in pain while the offenders are back on the street
infuriates me.
Until these individuals suffer consequences and are held accountable for their actions, we will continue to see violence and crime on our streets, in our schools, and in our communities. Coddling these offenders and condoning their behavior is not going to keep our communities safe.