Click the Play button to begin playing the
clip.
This video requires the free QuickTime
plug-in.
Download
this video directly to your computer.
Sparks flew and shouts filled the air in the North Village early
Sunday morning after the UCLA football team’s upset victory
over USC in Saturday’s game.
Hundreds of screaming students gathered on the 600 block of
Landfair Avenue, crowding around several couches that had been set
on fire around 1 a.m.
The scene was frenzied, with several women doing a striptease
from an apartment window and a male streaker jumping through the
flames.
With students celebrating in the buff, throwing glass and openly
consuming alcohol and drugs while standing in the middle of the
street, the gathering quickly attracted the attention of local law
enforcement ““ including university police and the Los Angeles
Police Department.
UCPD and LAPD estimates placed the crowd of people gathered on
Landfair Avenue between 1,000 and 2,000 people before the street
was blocked off by police cars around midnight.
By about 1:15 a.m. there were an estimated several hundred
students surrounding the fire and the police perimeter around
Landfair Avenue.
The fire occurred in the midst of a larger street party, which
started earlier in the night but gradually dissipated.
Students hit police cars and threw glass bottles at officers on
the scene.
Sgt.
Greg Hancock of the LAPD said officers were already monitoring the
area, and sometime after midnight on Sunday, the fire broke out. He
said that using a bullhorn, police asked students to leave, calling
the situation an “unlawful assembly.”
Alex Thomas, president of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, said he was
afraid the tall flames of the fire could ignite the tree in front
of his fraternity, and he went to the police and fire department
for help.
“I was very disappointed by the police and fire
department. They were just watching the situation, not controlling
it. They said they were outnumbered and couldn’t control it
““ they seemed too calm for that situation,” he
said.
The city was placed on tactical alert after the fire was
started, and a police helicopter circled the area for several hours
after, shining its spotlights on revelers.
“It’s not every day that a helicopter with bright
… lights is flying over Westwood, and the riot police,”
said Jake Kaizer-Salk, president of Alpha Epsilon Pi, a fraternity
located at the corner of Roebling and Landfair avenues.
Hancock said the students did not leave when asked to do so, and
at that point police officers formed a skirmish line and dispersed
the crowd.
LAPD officers formed a line and quickly moved down Landfair
Avenue, firing rounds of rubber projectiles and prodding students
with batons when they did not move away quickly enough.
Daily Bruin reporters at the scene, after identifying themselves
as members of the media, were denied access to the scene. One was
shoved to the ground and another was hit with a baton.
After the reporters repeatedly identified themselves as
journalists in an attempt to remain on the scene to report on the
incident, an LAPD officer told them, “It doesn’t mean
shit,” and forced the reporters off of the sidewalk and into
an apartment complex.
The projectiles sparked and made a loud popping noise, visibly
frightening students and reminding some of the Nov. 14 UCPD Taser
incident.
“I just came up to see the bonfire. … A bunch of people
(started) yelling about being Tasered, and then it started raining
rubber bullets,” said Aaron Stein, a fourth-year psychology
student. No Tasers were used in the dispersal.
Before dispersing the crowd, police blocked off the intersection
of Strathmore Drive and Landfair Avenue and the intersection of
Gayley and Landfair avenues.
At first police were blocking vehicle traffic, but later in the
morning police began sealing off all access to Landfair Avenue
between the two intersections.
Students in the area were forced into the nearest apartment
building and not allowed to leave, while students outside the
police perimeter were not allowed into the area to go back to their
apartments.
“I’m in an apartment where I don’t know
anyone. … Seems like (police) took care of the situation and then
went beyond,” said Dan Hugo, a second-year business economics
student.
UCPD dispatch officers said university police were not involved
in the crowd dispersal and did not use force against students.
Hancock said LAPD officers used the minimal amount of force
necessary to disperse the crowd, and to his knowledge there were no
arrests or injuries reported as a result of the dispersal.
Nancy Greenstein, UCPD director of police community services,
said there were several other crimes reported Saturday night and
early Sunday morning, including at least one burglary, several loud
parties, another street fire and a crowd of 200 students gathered
outside of Rieber Hall after the game.
With reports from Melinda Dudley, Jennifer Mishory and
Lindsey Morgan, Bruin senior staff.