The Grand Rapids Police managed a crowd of 400, using pepper ball guns to disperse a St. Patrick’s Day fight, resulting in five arrests and no injuries.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Grand Rapids Police Department is sharing body camera footage from Downtown Grand Rapids Friday night after a large crowd celebrating St. Patrick’s Day at the intersection of Oakes and Commerce became unruly during a music event.
“Officers monitored that area throughout the night, and they saw it get as large as about 400 individuals. Unfortunately, about 2:20, 2:30 in the morning, officers in the area noted that a large fight had started in the crowd, so they moved in to take action. Unfortunately, it escalated from there, with fights sort of happening all over,” said Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom.
“You’re about to get sprayed, you’re about to get sprayed!” officers can be heard warning people in the body cam footage.
The footage shows police firing pepper ball guns near the crowd, along with several arrests being made.
“You’re under arrest, you’re under arrest, get back!” said officers on the scene.
“No one is cooperating with the police officers, it was incredibly dangerous for everyone,” said Winstrom.
After concerns circulated on social media about the police response to the crowd, Winstrom said his team acted appropriately.
“I reached out to the officers and praised them for the exceptional work that they did, because we’re not here talking about a young person shot downtown or individuals seriously hurt from these fights. We’re just talking about pepper spray and pepper ball. So that’s a win for us and for the city,” said Winstrom.
No one was injured and five arrests were made. Winstrom encourages people to enjoy themselves but stresses the importance of listening to authorities and maintaining peaceful behavior.
“Police officers have a right to bring peace to an area when something lawless like this is taking place,” said Winstrom. “Love to see our venues get a lot of activity in the downtown area and across the city so we embrace that. We just want people to do it peacefully.”
Winstrom said he’ll be reviewing the videos to assess if charges are needed.