At 11:09 a.m. on April 23, Eugene Police started receiving calls about a very large party, reported to have been going since 10 a.m. on 16th Avenue between Patterson and Hilyard.

An estimated 500 to 1,000 people were reported to be blocking the entire roadway, spreading into the travel lanes and spreading onto neighboring properties.

In attendance were underaged drinkers, college-aged individuals and middle-aged parents.

Police were called to respond and had glass bottles and canned food thrown at them. EPD units ended up having to push the crowd out when hails to disperse failed.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

“Something like this is a complete embarrassment for the people who engaged in that party,” said Chief Chris Skinner. “We all understand the excitement Spring brings but these irresponsible individuals, including parents and their college-aged children should be ashamed. What they did was force our operations to go into what is termed ‘priority calls.’ This means that much of the rest of the community has to have their individual calls for service placed on hold while we deal with people who are not able to self-regulate or observe our community’s standards of behavior. I commend our officers for showing tremendous restraint. The attempted assault on our police officers is inexcusable.”

The hub appears it may have been some three-story apartments.

The party was dispersed by about 1:16 p.m. without any arrests. The Mobile Response Teams remained in the area for some time after.


--Bruce Armstrong

Post Date: 2022-04-23 09:28:28

Last Update: 2022-04-23 17:58:52