Monday, April 16, 2012

Meadow Street Mayhem

 Townhouse Quad.  

Glorious weather on a long holiday weekend spelled trouble for APD, reminiscent of the September 9 Meadow Street Riot, when the north end of campus erupted in crowd violence while town and UMass officials were busy handing out oatmeal cookies and schmoozing with students in the south end of campus.

Once again the nefarious north became the general location for out-of-control nuisance partying, with Meadow Street  again serving as ground zero.  This of course is reason #1 neighbors (over the age of 30) in the north oppose North Amherst Village Center rezoning, fearing incidents like this will only magnify exponentially.



Police first responded to Townhouse Apartments on Saturday afternoon around 2:30 PM for reports of a "party going on and a band setting up in the quad area." But the band was given a verbal warning and the officer noted, "Quad filling up with students but nothing out of control at this time."

At 3:15 PM police are called back by apartment security regarding "beer bottles that were thrown in his direction."  And at 6:00 PM, a female called wishing to press charges against a male student who drunkenly fell into her and chipped an incisor tooth.  She also reported being struck in the leg by a thrown beer bottle while at the Townhouse quad party.

About this same time apartment security reports "while walking by unit #20 he had bottles thrown at him that missed but hit and smashed the windshield of a black Audi."  At this point (6:14 PM) APD swoops in and shuts down the party, before the cover of darkness makes matters considerably worse.

According to police narrative:

1000+ and an unruly crowd, with numerous fights breaking out.  Apartment #24 refused to disburse and control their guests inside and out.  The apartment continued to party and refused to silence their music or clear the party.  Residents (4) issued Town Bylaw noise citations and then became hostile, puffing their chests up and surrounding officers 101 and 110 in an attempt to overpower them.  One party (Tyler Davidson) clenched his fists and charged.  Placed under arrest for Assault and Battery on a police officer.

Tyler Davidson, age 23.  Arrested for A+B on police officer, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct


10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Mom,

Good news, I'm coming home early. Why? No reason. I just miss you and dad, the poodle and the cat.

P.S. need $1,000. No reason, just a bit short of cash.

Anonymous said...

Dear Mom,

Good news, I'm coming home early. We've totally destroyed the physical environment here in Amherst (I've enclosed this handy video we took driving up North Pleasant Street here, just to show you what we've accomplished), and there's really nothing left to trash here.

The people here are so ungrateful so we figured we could continue partying and destroying things at home. Could you talk to the police there to get them ready? After all, you taught me that we're not responsible for anything
that we do.

P.S. I vandalize, therefore I am.

Emily Dickinson said...

Dear Mom,

How did this town end up as the best in the country? I and thousands of students are sneered upon by the "open minded." I feel as if the town is so open minded their brains fell out. Honestly they don't even realize it's 2012, not 1862! It's weird, they move next to a campus older than their great-grandparents then act as if it was invisible the entire time.

Maybe it's something in the water from all the farms that would otherwise compose the town if it was not for us. Mad cow perhaps?

P.S. I'm graduating with more degrees than the average town resident, but somehow they still think I'm an idiot! Can't wait to return to the present time.

Love,
Students

Larry Kelley said...

I can tell your degrees are unrelated to basic writing.

Just Wondering said...

Just wondering - why is it only UMASS students who are involved in these wild parties and melees???? I'm sure the other area colleges have youth of the same age attending their fine institutions.

Anonymous said...

Amherst is a college town and UMass has over 20,000 students. If you don't like living amongst college student then move! College students drink and party on the weekends, it's a completely normal thing to do at our age. Clearly you have way too much time on your hands and are obsessed with UMass students' drinking habits. Maybe you should find a hobby...I don't see why families would choose to live right near campus where all of the students live too. There are other towns in Western Mass besides Amherst. UMass is wasting all our tuition money on police officers instead of education.

Anonymous said...

Anon 6:01, someday you and your binge-drinking classmates will discover to your horror that the world does not revolve around you.

Larry Kelley said...

Party houses are a problem all over Amherst--not just neighborhoods contiguous with campus.

Simply put, it's about being a good neighbor, no matter how near or far from campus that neighbor is located. It's about common decency. It's about respect.

And it's about time nitwits like you figured it out.

Anonymous said...

So when these families moved to Amherst they had no idea there was a college here? Was that a surprise? Why would you ever want to live right next door to a bunch of college students? Of course the world does not revolve around me specifically but the town of Amherst revolves around UMass and Amherst College. If it wasn't for all of the colleges in the area, Western Mass would not even be on the map! How about all 25,000 of us leave and this entire area can collapse?

Larry Kelley said...

Actually there are residents living in North Amherst who were there before Townhouse Apartments, Puffton Village or Hobart Lane was constructed.

Glad to hear you realize the world does not revolve around you. Tell your friends.