Halloween Block Party leads to dozens of arrests
No attendee at the notorious Athens Halloween Block Party planned to have his or her costume marred by handcuffs or the fasteners of an Athens County Emergency Medical Services stretcher.
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But more than 100 partygoers realized that fate during Saturday night’s events — which picked up around 8:30 p.m. and ran well past 2 a.m.
During that time, Athens EMS responded to 46 calls for service, resulting in 33 transports to OhioHealth O’Bleness Hospital. The Athens Police Department made 40 arrests, including one felony trafficking charge, while the Ohio University Police Department made 24 Halloween-related arrests. The Ohio Department of Public Safety Investigative Unit arrest figures were not available as of press time, according to a city news release from early Sunday morning. Last year they made 55 arrests.
However, gunshots were fired on Court Street between West Union and Washington streets in front of OU’s 31 S. Court St. offices at approximately 2:05 a.m, roughly a half an hour before the streets were cleared by police officers.
Officers who were breaking up a fight in the area witnessed a man involved in the fight fire a weapon into the air at least twice before fleeing the area.
No injuries were reported, and the incident is under investigation by APD. A weapon was found near Hudson Health Center and is in the possession of APD currently, an APD news release said.
Aside from the shooting, city and county officials said this year’s block party was fairly mellow.
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“I think things went pretty well,” Athens County Interim Sheriff Rodney Smith said Sunday afternoon. “We didn’t see any major incidents besides the shooting.”
Just after 1 a.m., an arrest update was posted to the Athens Halloween Block Party Facebook page, detailing that APD had made 29 arrests so far — meaning nearly 30 percent of all arrests APD made happened in the hours after.
However, 41 of the 46 calls for service Athens EMS responded to had been made by 1 a.m.
Athens EMS Chief Rick Callebs said that most years, the Halloween Block Party results in anywhere from 35 to 45 emergency reports.
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“We’ve had upwards of 70, but that’s rare,” he said just before 1 a.m. “This seems like an average year.”
Though some officials thought this year’s bash was even more tame than those previously.
“Everyone seems calm and happy,” Jason Kline, a lieutenant with the sheriff’s office, said.
APD made 45 arrests during last year’s block party, according to a previous Post report, and 49 in 2012.
In the past two years, there has been a 20 percent decline in arrests.
APD Chief Tom Pyle said during Athens Mayor Paul Wiehl’s press conference Wednesday afternoon that his department would have “twenty to thirty” times its normal law enforcement presence.
“On a typical Saturday (in Athens), we have four officers out,” Pyle said.” We will have well over than 20 or 30 times that (at this year’s Athens Halloween Block Party).”
The Athens Fire Department also saw some action with three calls for service, though no major fire-related events were reported.
Though that doesn’t mean the party wasn’t still in full swing — by 9 p.m., Mike’s Dog Shack, 20 S. Court St., was nearly sold out of beer.
“Blame it on Halloween,” said Mike Carson, owner of Mike’s Dog Shack. “It happens.”
@Eockerman
EO300813@ohio.edu
