The Euclid Police Department has refuted claims officers were to blame for the chaos that erupted outside of a roller rink earlier this week.
The end of school year party at Mig’s Pla-Mor on Wednesday drew close to 1,000 people, but police say it turned into a riot after the party was shut down, forcing police officers to use pepper spray and pepper balls to break up the crowd.
Lt. Mitch Houser defended the officers’ actions, saying they repeatedly told the crowd to go home, but many refused. He says fights began and believes the officers’ actions were an appropriate response to what was believed to be a situation that could have been potentially dangerous for everyone involved.
:The use of the OC technology, whether it was the spray, in most cases, we’re using an airburst spray, spraying above the heads or the pepper balls, which we would break them against hard surfaces…is to put that irritant into the air, to the stop the kids from fighting, to move them along out of a specific area and to dissuade them from doing any other type of activity that be dangerous to us, them or anybody else," Lt. Houser said.
Police say when officers first responded, there were more than 400 people outside of the party waiting to get in. Lt. Houser says the crowd became unruly and pepper spray and pepper balls were used to control the situation. He says when people started to leave the area, officers went inside because they were concerned the roller rink was over capacity. He says police later shut it down once it got too full.
"We stood by with the fire department to do a head count and the business complied," he said. "When we got to 440 [people inside], we shut the doors."
Lt. Houser says that led to people pushing and shoving each other, which led to more fighting. He claims the crowd of more than a hundred people began to spill into the streets, damaging some nearby businesses.
"When that second group came out and acted in a way we sort of expected them to, we had the man power there to prevent what could have been a horrible, horrible situation," Lt. Houser said.
The city has since filed a nuisance complaint against the business in an effort to get it shut down. Lt. Houser also says the roller rink did not have an event permit to have a party on Wednesday, adding there have been incidents of fights and disturbances at the business before.
The owner of Mig’s Pla Mor, Miguel Sanders, says there have been incidents, but they were minor. He says the roller rink is a community partner, keeping kids off the streets. Sanders says he is disappointed the city decided to label his business as a nuisance.
In an interview Thursday, Sanders said the officers were to blame for the chaos. He says he still feels the same way, believing the police were combative and could have done a better job at maintaining peace.
Sanders also says he believed he had a permit for the party. He also thought he hired Euclid police officers to do security. He says he learned he didn’t have one the day of the event or security when the officer didn’t show up.
If he had known in advance, Sanders says he could have been better prepared or possibly cancelled the event. However, he questions why he needs a permit, saying the previous two owners weren’t required to have one.
Mig’s Pla-Mor was set to host another party Friday night at 11:00 p.m., but was canceled following repeated threats from police to shut it down.