An estimated crowd of 2,500 people turned violent as they flooded the streets of a student neighborhood near the campuses of Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo College early Sunday morning.
Kalamazoo Police began sweeping the neighborhood around midnight after residents complained of excessive noise and of large parties, Kalamazoo Police Lt. Douglas Geurink said.
When police tried to clear the area, party-goers became angered and threw rocks, bottles and other objects, causing minor injuries to two officers.
Both were treated and released from Bronson Methodist Hospital.
“I don’t have any idea why this happened, and I don’t know what caused it, but things just got out of control,” Geurink said.
Officers from Western Michigan University Department of Public Safety, the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Department and the Michigan State Police arrived in riot gear to clear the streets.
A large volume of gas canisters were used by the 50 officers responding to clear the streets by about 3:45 a.m., Geurink said.
Twenty-one people were arrested on charges of inciting a riot and assaulting a police officer. About 46 others were given citations for underage drinking and other misdemeanors.
Police will be going through videotape taken at the scene to identify and prosecute others responsible for the melee.
Those identified may face the consequences of the year-old Michigan law, which prohibits any individual deemed by the court to be directly related to a riot, found guilty of inciting a riot, unlawful assembly or civil disorder, from being on or within 2,500 feet of the state’s public colleges, community colleges or university campuses for one to two years.
The law, introduced by state Sen. Loren Bennett, R-Canton, was approved by Gov. John Engler in March 2000 and made effective June 1, 2000.
This is the first major disturbance near Western’s campus in 13 years and probably included several non-Western students, said Matt Kurz, Associate Vice President for University Relations.
“Our president, Elson Floyd, and I went down to Lafayette Street (Sunday) to look at the scene, and we’ll be getting together with city officials to look into it,” Kurz said. “We don’t want situations like this to occur, and we were lucky their were few minor injuries and very little property damage.”
Kurtz said officials will be looking into what provoked the incident and how to prevent it from happening again over the next few days.
“We want (students) to have a good time while they’re here, but we also want them to realize they must be good to the community and be good neighbors,” Kurz said. “We’re not expecting this to be a typical situation with our students.”
