A Severed Ear And An Assault Rifle On Halloween – November 1, 2012

The Arcata Police Department along with officers from the Eureka Police Department, Fortuna Police Department, Ferndale Police Department, Rio Dell Police Department, HSU Police Department and California Highway Patrol patrolled the Arcata Plaza on Halloween due to past incidents of unruly behavior.

Halloween saw a couple thousand people in the downtown area once again. While officers were successful in keeping the Plaza from being vandilized, some people in the crowd turned violent.

While arresting a female subject who had been involved in a physical fight, officers became surrounded. Several objects were thrown at the officers from the crowd. An APD sergeant was struck in the face with a bottle. He sustained a large laceration to his upper lip and had to be transported to Mad River Hospital where he received several stitches. The crowd continued to be unruly and several more arrests were made throughout the night.

During the evening officers located a male subject with an  AR-15 assault rifle slung around his neck. The firearm had an unusable unloaded magazine in the weapon. He also had a loaded operable 10 round magazine in his pocket. The weapon was taken for public safety reasons.

During the evening there were nine Public intoxication arrests,  and  numerous medical aid calls which consisted of a broken nose, broken jaw, severed ear (which were sustained during physical altercations in the downtown area) and other alcohol-related issues. There were approximately 101 calls for service during the night.

Halloween saw a couple thousand people in the downtown area once again. We deployed with allied agencies in the same fashion as New Years Eve 2012. There were a total of 36 sworn officers, approximately 15 Academy cadets and and additonal 6 volunteer and non sworn members of APD. While we were successful in keeping the Plaza from being destroyed, the crowd once again turned violent.

While arresting a female subject who had been involved in a physical fight, officers became surrounded by the crowd. The crowd began to throw objects at the officers and an APD sergeant was struck in the face with a bottle. He sustained a large laceration to his upper lip and had to be transported to Mad River Hospital where he received several stitches. The crowd continued to be unruly and several more arrests were made throughout the night.

During the evening officers located a male subject with an AR-15 assault rifle slung around his neck. The firearm had an unusable unloaded magazine in the weapon. He also had a loaded operable 10 round magazine in his pocket. The weapon was taken for public safety reasons.

The operation resulted in 9-647(f) arrests, numerous medical aid calls which consisted of a broken nose, broken jaw (which were sustined during physical altercations in the downtown area) and other alcohol related issues.

The allied agenicies consisted of the Eureka Police Department, Fortuna Police Department, Ferndale Police Department, Rio Dell Police Dpartment, HSU Police Department, and three CHP traffic units. The assistance was invaluable during the height of the incident.

Bart Silvers, Lieutenant
Arcata Police Department