600 Brawl Outside FL Movie Theater, Only Five Arrested
A massive brawl that involved some 600 people at a movie theater in Florida resulted in the arrests of only five people.
The incident in a parking lot outside a movie theater in Jacksonville, Fla., took place on Christmas evening at around 8:30 p.m. and erupted after a mob of teens tried to force their way into the building.
The group was confronted by an off-duty police officer working as a security guard and as they tried to gain entry he used pepper spray to repeal the oncoming mob, as reported by ABC.
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The officer "administered pepper spray to disperse the group, locked the doors and called for backup, following protocol," Jacksonville Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Lauri-Ellen Smith told ABC News.
Shortly after the mob was hit with pepper spray, "upward of 600 people moving throughout a parking lot about the size of a football field began fighting, disrupting and jumping on cars," Smith added.
Given the number of individuals involved the security guard called for police assistance with dozens of officers responding to the call.
According to Smith, after police subdued the mob there were only minor injuries among the rioters and damage to property.
"Our response was quick and effective," Smith told News4Jax.com. "Our job is to keep people safe, first and foremost, obviously and that's what our officers did. They do that through tactical activities through crowd control by sequestering the group and again, keeping these folks safe, determining who's fighting, who's not."
Five teens were arrested and charged with crimes related to fighting, three of which received felony charges while two juveniles received misdemeanors, ABC News reported.
The three who received felony counts were Tevyn Alonza Davis, 19, for resisting arrest and breach of the peace, Jaquade Marquis Miller, 18, for fighting and resisting arrest, and Khalil Ahmad Bradley, 17, for resisting arrest, refusal to disperse and breach of the peace.
