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Police Use Pepper Spray To Stop McCarren Park Pool Fight
By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 17, 2012
Modified Jul 18, 2012
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 17, 2012
Modified Jul 18, 2012
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On this hot and humid day, police required backup to deal with a melee at the McCarren Park Pool in Brooklyn. Like the incident the day after the pool opened last month, a fight between pool-goers and authority figures broke out over backflips into the pool. At least three people were arrested, according to A Walk In The Park—one for assaulting a police officer and two for disorderly conduct. A witness told the Daily News, "You could tell something was going to happen. It was obvious. You just had that feeling in the air."
A Walk In The Park reports that the pool's beleaguered lifeguards closed the pool due to "an unruly crowd of between 10 -20 [who] were told numerous times to stop doing back-flips and throwing people into the air." The crowd, which booed, was nearly cleared, but then "a few decided to take jump back into the pool. A fight broke out and multiple officers were wrestling on the ground in the sprinklers." An officer said, "They went wild on us."
The News' witness seemed shocked:
“There was a complete breakdown of control. It looked like these kids were running the show.”
The witness said he saw one teen being marched away by cops.
“Then something obviously happened - he tried to resist arrest maybe - and they forced him to the ground,” he said.
“Then a group of people come rushing in and that's when the cop used mace,” he said, saying two others were taken into custody.
“There was a palpable tension in the air," he said. "It was a really tense, unpleasant situation. ”
The witness added, "Had that cop not used the mace they would have all piled in... You could see moms and their children being: 'Oh my God.' One lady outside was saying 'I’m done with this pool, it's too much. I'm never coming back here.’”
The pool, which underwent a years-long $50 million renovation, has had a rough start: Besides the June 29 attack on lifeguards, police officers were attacked on July 2 and pool-goers' locked lockers have been broken into. Oddly enough, Prospect Heights Patch has a story today about the NYPD saying that everything's safe at the pool, "There will be no issues there—there are a lot of police."
Update 10:24 p.m.: The NYPD says that a 23-year-old black male was charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and harassment while two 24-year-old black males were both charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
Tagged
backflip
brooklyn
greenpoint
lifeguard
mace
mccarren park
McCarren Park Pool
pepper spray
police
williamsburg
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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