Election night celebration results in riot, eight arrests
ASU football players are among those arrested
Sarah Morris
Issue date: 11/6/08 Section: News
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Officer William Brumfield was the first officer to respond at 11:48 p.m. Tuesday after noise complaints for the celebration, held at The Grove apartments, 500 North Caraway Road, were made to the Jonesboro Police Department.
Several ASU students witnessed the incident, including Grove residents Alyssa Blankenship and Lanette Romans.
Romans, a sophomore secondary education major of Mammoth Spring, said the celebration began small and grew until "by 11:30 p.m. it was huge."
"It was when Obama officially won that people came out yelling, honking their horns and hooping and hollering," Romans said.
According to an initial Jonesboro Police report, it was at this time Jonesboro Police responded to two calls regarding a disturbance.
Blankenship, a sophomore accounting major of Thayer, Mo., said the first police car to arrive was surrounded by people as Officer William Brumfield attempted to drive by.
"He drove through and (a giant group of around 200) surrounded his car and started chanting," Blankenship said.
Both women said they were unsure what all was chanted, though "Obama" was the most prominent word heard.
Blankenship said, from there "it just escalated."
The incident, which occurred in front of Grove building 5, grew after police officers of the Jonesboro Police, ASU University Police, Craighead County Sheriff's Department, Bay Police, Bono Police, Brookland and Lake City Police Department responded to Brumfield's request for assistance.
"After the first one (police car) went through, others (officers) came. They walked up, and a guy came at them and started yelling at them in their face, so he was arrested," Blankenship said. "The others started throwing stuff and started to get violent like in fight mode … I think the crowd just took it the wrong way."
Officer Benjamin Runnels, in his written report, said, "Upon my arrival I saw a very large crowd of people yelling and being very disruptive as police officers were trying to get the crowd to disperse. At this point, I heard rocks and other objects hitting our police cars."
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Viewing Comments 1 - 7 of 13
stAte girl
posted 11/07/08 @ 11:34 AM CST
THIS IS SO BIASED!!!!!!!!!! RE-WRITE IMMEDIATELY
Andrea
posted 11/07/08 @ 12:49 PM CST
THIS IS THE MOST BIASED, UNTRUE, AND UNFAIRLY PROTRAYED STORY EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bob Snakely
posted 11/08/08 @ 9:53 AM CST
I just wonder what these folks will do when they find out that they WILL NOT BE GETTING any 'spread around the wealth' checks, free unlimited texting, free gas for their vehicles, and forgiveness for their student loans? All these things were promised by Move On Dot Org and Underground Democrat on behalf of the Obama campaign. (Continued…)
Billy Bob
posted 11/13/08 @ 1:07 PM CST
This is typical behavior of people who have no self-discipline, self respect, or respect for the law. You assault an officer, you go to jail. I don't know how these people were expecting anything different. (Continued…)
Jessica
posted 11/14/08 @ 9:24 AM CST
I'm pretty sure this isn't the only incident that happened when the announcement came of Obama's win. Of course every article relating to the election violence is always blamed on racist White cops and police brutality, even white supporters of McCain being arrested for their own "safety". (Continued…)
K
posted 11/16/08 @ 11:39 AM CST
Whoever wrote this story is an idiot and needs to get the whole story before writing on it. Only in Jonesboro, Arkansas did the cops have to harrass people for celebrating a historic moment in history. (Continued…)
Joy
posted 11/18/08 @ 2:54 PM CST
I hope that the students see how important city government is, and make it a priority to have their voices heard in Jonesboro's run-off election for the office of Mayor. (Continued…)
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