By Chris Richburg
A concert featuring rap duo Dead Prez resulted in more than $30,000 in damages and an overturned Thurston County Sheriff’s patrol car during a riot that took place after the performance on Friday (February 15).
The Olympian reports that the incident, which happened early Friday at Evergreen State College, stemmed from reports of a fight that occurred inside the College Recreation Center.
Around 1:30 a.m., a female campus police officer was dispatched to the venue, where Dead Prez was performing.
After the officer arrested a man inside the venue and placed him in the back of her patrol car, Washington State Patrol trooper Brandy Kessler said concertgoers were taunting and questioning what the officer did, as the crowd grew in number and became more aggressive.
"They didn't feel the arrest that was being made was fair," Kessler said.
According to one student that attended the show, efforts were made to block the police car as it was taking the man away.
The man was later released after the officer called for backup after being concerned for her safety and took the man’s name and address down so he could be summoned to court at a later time.
"It was a very volatile situation at one point, and I'm proud of the officers in how they responded," Thurston County Chief Criminal Deputy James Chamberlain said about the decision to release the man. "They backed out of there to try and de-escalate the situation instead of making more arrests and possibly making it worse."
Six sheriff’s deputies who were called to the scene encountered resistance as they reported several people in the crowd throwing rocks, bottles and a garbage can as well as others who were grabbing at the deputies' guns.
More problems arose when the deputies were unable to leave when mechanical problems prevented their car from starting.
"The car was attacked," Kessler said, adding that at one point 200 people were at the scene as some of the people in the crowd kicked the patrol car, broke its window, wrote graffiti on it with black marker and rolled the vehicle onto its roof.
Chamberlain also revealed that three other sheriff's patrol cars and a campus police car were damaged.
Overall, Chamberlain said that damages to the wrecked patrol car is estimated at about $25,000, while cumulative damage to all of the cars will likely amount to more that $30,000.