4 fires, 53 arrests trigger big batch of court visits
Kristine Gill
27 Apr, 2009
READ another article about the College Fest riot.
WATCH video captured Saturday night and view photos taken during the riot.
WATCH video footage taken by readers.
More than 50 students have arraignments set for Wednesday and Thursday after this weekend's College Fest riots. But it still remains unclear what sparked the riots.
Only minor injuries to officers were reported by the Kent City Police and Fire departments, and there were no reports of major injuries to partygoers.
In a news release issued around 3 a.m. yesterday, Kent Police reported that about 53 people were arrested after multiple warnings for charges, including failure to disperse, a fourth-degree misdemeanor. Dispatchers said that number is climbing.
"We got arrested for failure to disperse, but we didn't hear the order. We were inside, and we went out on the porch to grab some things and they arrested us," senior psychology major Joey Smith said. "...They dragged me down the street without shoes on, with all the glass and the fire. They didn't even tell me what I was being arrested for."
What students saw
According to the press release from police, the riot started "when partying students and others began pelting police officers with bottles and rocks at the scene of an arrest."
Students corroborated that story yesterday.
"There were four or five cops, and they started arresting people on the sidewalk for open container. This girl's friend got arrested and she went up to see why, then she got pushed down," said Kirk Price, junior justice studies major. "People started throwing bottles after that, and the cops fired those rubber bullets right after."
Students said partygoers responded by starting a fire in the middle of East College Avenue.
"The fires didn't start first. I was running from the cops' shots before any fires started," said Lauren McCumber, junior integrated language arts major.
Max Nixon, junior airport management major, began taking video between 7 and 7:30 p.m., after what people are calling "the push," when he said an officer shoved a girl onto the pavement while she was apparently inquiring about the arrest of a friend. Nixon captured video as the girl, who was pushed, went back to talk to officers again. His video is posted on YouTube.
"The officer kind of rushes over to the female and arrests her (in the video). He pushes her around and swings her around," Nixon said. "In my opinion it was excessive force."
Nixon said beer bottle throwing that followed this scene was in direct response to "the push." He said officers retreated to the dead end of East College Avenue, where they regrouped and later advanced down the street to disperse students using paintball guns and tear gas.
"I was told they just blindly fired rubber bullets into the crowd to disperse the crowd," Nixon said.
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