The opening weekend of the fall carnival in the parking lot of College Station’s Post Oak Mall included what police described as a riot involving 1,000 people.
Saturday night’s incident resulted in two officers being injured, five arrests, and multiple people…mostly juveniles who were not supervised by adults…being issued criminal trespass warnings.
According to Lt. Steve Brock, the disturbance was the largest of its type in his 21 years with the department.
At the time of Saturday night’s incident, four off-duty CSPD officers were working for the carnival operator.
The crowd grew after a 13 year old girl held for disorderly conduct struck an officer in the jaw with her knee.
Responding to the riot were on-duty CSPD officers along with Bryan and Texas A&M police and Brazos County sheriff’s deputies.
The second officer was struck in the throat by a 14 year old girl.
The two girls were arrested for assaulting the officers.
Four others, ranging in age from 15 to 17, were arrested on charges including resisting arrest and and possessing brass knuckles.
Lt. Brock said the city permit issued to the carnival was for October 8 through the 18th. According to a mall message board, the carnival is scheduled for October 9 through the 25th.
According to College Station’s permit regulations covering carnivals, it can operate for a maximum of 15 calendar days or 150 hours during a calendar year.
Regulations allows the permit to be revoked if College Station’s “Building Official, Chief of Police, or Fire Marshal, determine that the event poses a serious threat to the public health, safety or welfare.”
The carnival closed early after Saturday night’s riot then reopened Sunday with additional security.
Click HERE to read College Station’s regulations covering carnivals.
News release from College Station police:
On Saturday, October 10, 2015, at approximately 2240 hours, four off duty police officers with the College Station Police Department were working at the Wright Amusement Carnival located at 1500 Harvey Rd. in College Station (Post Oak Mall).
They were hired as security by Wright Amusement. The Officers were wearing the standard CSPD patrol officer uniform.
The off-duty officers were alerted that a fight was in progress in the parking lot area on the west side of the carnival.
At this point in the evening, the off-duty officers had already dispersed and resolved several situations among juvenile individuals that were about to result in juveniles fighting each other.
As the off duty officers began breaking up the fight, the juvenile they were detaining for disorderly conduct fighting began resisting one of the off duty officers.
The juvenile was flailing her arms and out of control. As the officer continued to attempt to gain control of the juvenile she began using her legs to push away. While doing this, she struck the off duty officer in the jaw with her knee causing the officer immediate discomfort and pain.
While the officers continued to fight with the juvenile, the crowd grew from approximately 200 individuals to double in size.
The crowd began to close in on the officers and became hostile. Cups with unknown liquids began to be thrown from the crowd towards the off duty officers.
The off duty officers began calling on the radio for assistance due to the aggressive actions, demeanor, growth and advancing crowd. On-duty CSPD officers arrived and began trying to assist and calm the crowds.
By the time the on-duty officers were arriving the crowd had reached what appeared to be more than 1000 individuals. The vast majority of the crowd were juveniles that had been dropped off and left unattended.
The juveniles were yelling obscenities and aggressively posturing towards the officers. One of the juveniles was observed making a handgun gesture to the back of an Officer’s head and pulling the trigger.
The officers were attempting to disperse the crowd and get the juveniles to continue on their way. Within a few minutes of the additional officers arriving on scene more fights among juveniles began to break out.
Based on the number of altercations the officers working at the carnival had already thwarted, an officer being assaulted, the rioting acts of the crowd and the size of the crowd that was actively involved in keeping the problems going, the management of Wright Amusement and the CSPD supervisor on scene decided to shut the carnival down for the remainder of 10/10/15. The crowd reached a point of volatility that caused the scene to be too dangerous for the patrons of the carnival to remain.
As officers attempted to get people to leave, several more fights began. CSPD officers were largely outnumbered and needed additional law enforcement assistance. Texas A&M University PD, Bryan PD and Brazos County Sheriff’s Office sent officers.
In conjunction with the officers from the surrounding agencies, CSPD officers were able to continue to disperse the crowd and shrink it in size.
A large number of individuals were picked up in vehicles and taken away from the scene. There were some individuals that continued to stay and cause problems.
As Eason was being taken into custody, two females rushed from the crowd towards officers who were affecting the arrest. An additional officer instructed the females to back away from the officers, however the females disregarded repeated directives to back away. An officer attempted to take one of the females into custody for Interference with Public Duties after she pushed past him a fourth time; and in the course of doing so, the female physically resisted being taken into custody. The second female then struck the officer in his throat as he was securing the first female. The second female was then arrested for assault public servant and interference with Public Duties.
Officers continued at this point trying to get the juveniles and remaining individuals to leave. Post Oak Mall security arrived and authorized criminal trespass warnings to be issued. As officers were issuing criminal trespass warnings to individuals that still refused to leave, one juvenile male gave fictitious information and was arrested for fail to identify. The same juvenile male was found to be in possession of brass knuckles and subsequently charged with possession of prohibited weapon.
Arrests and Charges:
· Anthony Lee Eason, B/M, 17 yrs old resident of College Station-CSPD 15-010971: Disorderly Conduct Language, Resisting Arrest, Resisting Transport, Possession of Marijuana < 2oz, criminal trespass. Transported to BCSO (Brazos County Sheriff’s Office) and booked.
· Female Juvenile, 13 yrs old, resident of College Station-CSPD 15-010970: Disorderly Conduct Fighting, Resisting Arrest, Assault on Public Servant, Transported to JDC (Juvenile Detention Center) and booked.
· Female Juvenile, 14 yrs old, resident of College Station-CSPD 15-010976: Interfering with duties of a public Servant, Assault on Public Servant. Transported to JDC and booked.
· Female Juvenile, 16 yrs old, resident of College Station-CSPD 15-010973: Interfering with duties of a public Servant, Resisting Arrest. Transported to JDC and booked.
· Male Juvenile, 15 yrs old, resident of College Station-CSPD 15-010977: Failure to identify, Possession of Prohibited Weapon. Transported to JDC and booked.
Security has been increased at the carnival to help thwart any future problems with unlawful behavior.