Recordpub.com - Block party becomes Kent riot: 40 arrests and climbing as police break up mob

KSU College Ave. photo by Robert J. Lucas

By Kasha Legeza-Burton

Record-Courier staff writer

A day of partying by college-aged residents of East College Avenue in Kent ended with Metro SWAT officers breaking up a crowd of hundreds of rioters, allowing firefighters to douse the couch-fueled bonfires burning in the street.

At least 40 people were arrested after Kent police called in assistance from Metro SWAT and numerous other area police and rescue squads. Kent’s Prisoner Transport van and other vehicles made repeated trips from College Avenue to the emergency services staging area between Water, Day and DePeyster streets.

Police radio traffic began heating up around 8 p.m., with reports of officers calling for pepper guns and a dispatcher stating that “college students are throwing beer bottles and stuff at the officers and their cars.”

By 8:30 p.m., a small group of officers stationed in the middle of College Avenue were dodging beer bottles and other debris being thrown at them by the throng, gathered on porches and in yards, with the greatest numbers filling the yards at 308 to 300 E. College Ave.

The officers retreated toward the street’s dead end at Haymaker-Parkway, causing the crowd to surge into the street, screaming and breaking glass. Newcomers continued arriving, toting cases of beer and cameras.

Numerous students reported that the street partying — which many termed “College Fest” — began as early as 7 a.m. in some yards. Spirited outdoor games of beer pong drew crowds by 10 a.m., they said.

Several partyers said they believe problems escalated when Kent’s “paddy wagon,” followed by two to three police cars, cruised slowly down the street around 8 p.m.

One longtime Kent resident said a female sitting on a porch at 308 E. College was hit in the back by a pepper ball, causing her to fall off the porch. He believed that action set students off.

Daniel Stone, a KSU junior, said he was in the yard at 308 E. College with his dog on a leash. “They started pepper balling me and I got down and covered my dog to protect her and they kept shooting pepper balls at me,” Stone said.

At 8:45 p.m., with police withdrawn, competing music blared from several houses, audible above the boisterous crowd. The smell of beer permeated the air up and down the street of primarily student rentals.

While waiting to see what officers would do next, students began bringing furniture — mainly couches — out of their homes to create a bonfire in the middle of the street.

Their success was cheered by the crowd, prompting more people to toss in such items as tables, doors, house steps and bottles of alcohol. Flames reached as high as 25 feet in the air, and acrid smoke filled the neighborhood. The crowd was festive, with people climbing trees to cheer the fire.

Students stationed farther away from the bonfire could be heard muttering, “This is ridiculous” and “Where are the cops?”

Joel Black, a KSU senior, had spent the evening at the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life on campus. He returned home to his Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house at 323 E. College to see the bonfire and hundreds of partyers in the street.

“This is nuts. I’ve never seen it this bad before,” said the conflict management major. “We (the fraternity) don’t participate in College Fest.”

In fact, most of his fellow fraternity brothers also were at Relay, but they left the event in order to protect their fraternity house. One starting sending text messages to fellow brothers, telling them to stay away. “This type of stuff screws organizations like ours, and we don’t even participate,” he said.

By nearly 9:15 p.m., the crowd began scattering, running into houses and toward Lincoln as more than two dozen Metro SWAT officers in full riot gear began marching in formation down the street. Minutes later, those who did not disperse began a chant of “What the f***.”

Numerous arrests could be seen taking place up and down the street, with officers quickly parading the arrestees toward the Haymaker-Parkway area.

Once officers had cleared the street, firefighters appeared with hoses to begin putting down the bonfire. Their efforts were greeted by “boos” from the crowd. Beer bottles continued flying, and pepper balls could be heard hitting houses.

Seeing those flames doused prompted other students farther down toward Lincoln to start another, smaller fire in the street. The brothers of Alpha Epsilon Pi hurried to bring their burnable porch and lawn furniture inside.

Their home had become a refuge, with girlfriends hiding inside, crying because they were afraid — all watching from windows as the SWAT formation passed by.

Police could be heard yelling through bullhorns, “Clear the front porch or you will be arrested” and “Stay inside.” A firefighter walking by said to a straggler, “Get in the house or we’re going to pepper spray you.”

One of the girls hiding in the fraternity house said to her friends, “They (police) are warning them fair and square. They have to do this.”

The second, smaller street fire was extinguished by 9:30 p.m., but it was seen still smoldering a half hour later. By then, the street was mainly cleared.

At one point, Kent State University sent a text message on its emergency notification system. “Police are dispersing people on College Avenue as two fires broke out amidst parties tonight. Authorities are asking everyone to stay away from the area,” it read.

Emergency reponse vehicles parked near the Kent police and fire stations hailed from Rootstown, Ravenna City and Township, Aurora, Mantua, Brimfield, Streetsboro, Franklin Township, Macedonia, Cuyahoga Falls and Munroe Falls. Troopers from the Ohio Highway Patrol and Portage County Sheriff’s Office also were working the scene.

84.	Posted by Oh_Hell_No May 3, 2009
	So heres the thing Im 31 and have lived in Kent since I was 14. I have always lived within a 1 mile radius of KSU and have seen all the crap that has happened (or heard about it). I have never attended KSU or any of the parties. For the last 13 years I have lived across the street from "fraternity row" and have heard and seen the $hit that goes on over there. YES they have EXTREMELY loud music, YES they get drunk as hell and YES they are LOUD as hell BUT THEY ARE COLLEGE KIDS! I'm sorry but I am a "Townie" and I understand where the college kids are coming from, AS FAR AS DRINKING AND PARTING GO. Honestly MOST people that go to college partake in the "College experience" which is drinking and partying. Does it bother me that sometimes the music is so loud I literally can't hear my own TV or go to sleep until 4am when things wind down? Yes. But I also know that without the college and the students Kent would just be another crap a$$ town. The college brings A LOT of money into this town (VIA Students) and as a community we all benefit from this. No one can deny that. NOW as far as the "Riot" that took place. I think that what started out as a block party turned into an EXTREME situation. Drinking and partying are one thing, but when you start burning furniture and throwing things at police that is completely uncalled for. When I first hear that it all started because a police officer pushed (or hit) a female, I could see it happening. I have seen firsthand how the KPD can be extremely badge heavy and have the attitude that they can do whatever they want. BUT there are MANY of the KPD that are "good" cops and are NOT BADGE HEAVY and would never do that to someone unless provoked. So I didn't say yes I believe that happened or no it didn't, I was Switzerland. UNTIL the press conference when it WAS admitted that the officer did PUSH a female away BECAUSE she (as well as the rest of the group) where coming after the offices that were attempting to arrest someone else. In a situation like that you have a vast majority of young people that are drunk (as I said a VAST MAJORITY, NOT ALL) and saw what they believed is what happened. Seeing things thru drunken eyes and sober eyes is completely different, so if your drunk and you see a police officer push a female then that's what you see, you don't pay attention to all the other people that are around, the circumstances of why it happened and all the other people being pushed away, you see what you want. So everyone's saying that this is what actually set everything off right? Then what I see is a bunch of DRUNKEN college students over react to something that happened and started a horrible chain reaction. Damage was done, people were hurt, people's personal items were destroyed and a whole entire town was put under lock down and for what? Because too much liquor was ingested and they decided it would be fun to mess with the police and over react to a situation that happened and they didn't fully understand or comprehend? Every single person on that road was given AMPLE warning by the police to leave early in the day, but they didn't, they decided to stay and continue to party. So when the police called for reinforcements and showed up in riot gear everyone took it as what a threat? A joke? Thought it would be fun to challenge the police? Until things got serious and everyone knew they meant business and THEN they turned on the cops, decided to throw rocks and beer bottles/cans and whatever other misc items they could. Why? Because they were trying to keep the peace like they had been doing earlier, before you all got as drunk as you did? The event that took place was a case of too much alcohol and not enough common sense. Period. The students should have known when to stop and draw the line, had they had enough common sense to do that themselves there would have been no need for the police to get involved the way they did and for things to escalate as they had. It's a damn shame that common sense isn't used anymore. If it had been all of this could have been avoided. I accept the fact that this is a college town, and I respect the college students (for the most part) but damnit if I can extend that respect and courtesy then you better damn sight learn how to RESPECT and be COURTIOUS to the RESIDENTS of KENT too. I don't think that extending a little respect and courtesy to the FULL TIME RESIDENTS of the community/town you invade and damn near destroy for aprox 9 month out of the year is too much to ask for!!