Questions swirled this past weekend as the one-year anniversary of the now-infamous riot at East 14th Avenue and Ferry Street approached. Police prepared themselves by planning an aggressive operation that resulted in the arrest and jailing of many over the weekend.
In addition to increased police traffic and a rise in citations from the party patrols around the West and South University areas, officials also patrolled the Furthur concert at the Cuthbert Amphitheater.
On Friday alone, there were 33 citations issued, including two party citations. On Saturday, there were 42 citations for open containers and 35 minor in possession violations. In total, 85 people were charged, 40 of whom were taken into custody and transported to the Springfield Municipal Jail.
In addition to bringing people to the Springfield jail,@@The sentence above says they WERE taken there@@ other offenders were transported by “drunk tanks” to the Eugene City Hall. Once there, they were photographed and fingerprinted before being released.
“It depended on the level of violation,” said Melinda McLaughlin, Eugene Police Department spokesperson.”If there had been a riot, (officials) would have used the jail.”
Despite the increased level of police activity, the weekend was not without its surprises.
“There were a lot of extra people in the area,” McLaughlin said. “From the festival, to new students and people coming back to school.”
Police stationed multiple cars in areas with extra congestion, such as East 14th Avenue and Patterson Street and East 16th Avenue and Hilyard Street, with their lights on and the transportation vehicles ready.
Some witnesses reported seeing more police than ever before@@quote?@@. At one point, in a space of two blocks, there were four arrests made in under 20 minutes.
However, there was no sequel to the riot. Even with a Facebook event asking people to rally at the original spot of the riot one year ago, it never happened.
The police had mainly focused on loud parties and alcohol violations throughout the night, though many other citations were made.
“The weekend went well,” McLaughlin said. “The work done by the officers and the people helped this be relatively controlled.”