BRAWL AT THE MALL: 8 arrested as fists fly at Del Amo Fashion Center By Andrea Woodhouse and Larry Altman Posted: 01/11/2009 02:26:58 PM PST Mallgoers were evacuated Saturday evening from the entertainment wing of the Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance. A police helicopter and police units from Torrance, El Segundo, Gardena and Redondo Beach responded. (Patrick T Fallon/For The Daily Breeze) A fight between two women at Torrance's Del Amo Fashion Center escalated into a brawl that resulted in eight arrests, minor injuries to six people - including two police officers - and the evacuation of the mall's popular outdoor promenade, authorities said Sunday. At least 30 police officers from agencies throughout the South Bay responded to the melee Saturday night, some using Taser guns to subdue a fighting group of at least seven people, Torrance police Lt. Lloyd DeGonia said. Police moved about 500 patrons from the mall's lifestyle wing to an adjacent parking lot, DeGonia said. Torrance police officers working at the mall responded to a call around 9:15 p.m. from Del Amo security personnel needing assistance to stop a fight in the courtyard outside the AMC theaters on the second floor of the mall's outdoor promenade, he said. The fight broke out between two women, who were punching and kicking each other in a fight over clothing, and a handful of other people joined in the brawl as bystanders gathered around to watch, DeGonia said. Immediately upon police intervention, the crowd turned on the officers, punching one in the nose and leaving a second with minor knee injuries, he said. "They got jumped by the other people who were with the people who were fighting," DeGonia said. The officers requested assistance, drawing at least a dozen other Torrance police Mall guests are evacuated from the Del Amo Mall "Lifestyle Wing" after a large brawl caused a shutdown of the mall, including the AMC 18 Cinema, and the arrival of police units from Torrance, Redondo, Gardena, El Segundo, and a helicopter. (Patrick T. Fallon/For The Daily Breeze) officers to the scene, as well as officers from neighboring Gardena, Hawthorne, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach and El Camino College, DeGonia said. Fearing that the large crowd would escalate the incident, officers decided to evacuate mall patrons to a parking lot across the street from the promenade, he said. "The decision was to clear the lifestyle center," DeGonia said. "Basically, we got all the people out into the parking lot. As movies were ending, more people were coming out, and we pushed everyone back into the parking lot." Officers arrested two women, four men and two teenage boys involved in the fight. Arrested on suspicion of battery were Courtney Gillian, 18, of Los Angeles; and Alexis Ballard, 19, of Woodland Hills. Arrested on suspicion of resisting a police officer were Deandre Long, 20, of Paramount; Timothy Lamb, 19, of Paramount; Garrett Sloan, 18, of Paramount; and George Williams, 19, of Bellflower. Two juveniles, whose names were not released because of their age, were arrested on suspicion of resisting a police officer and trespassing. Police do not believe any of the suspects are gang members. All face misdemeanors except Long, who allegedly hit a police officer and caused injury, making that a felony. Two officers and four suspects were treated for minor injuries at nearby Torrance Memorial Medical Center, DeGonia added. No weapons were used in the incident, and police did not find any in possession of the suspects. Del Amo Fashion Center executives released a statement about the incident Sunday, expressing gratitude that it resulted in no major injuries. "We are cooperating fully with local police officials to ensure the situation is handled appropriately, and will continue to do so in order to take the necessary steps in preventing further incidents of this kind," it stated.
Staff Writer
from the Daily Breeze.
1 comments:
It is extremely ignorant of you to post this blog labeling ALL of the Pu$haz Inc. participants "Poor Examples of African American Teens". First of all my daughter is an 18 year old college freshman at CSUDH with an internship at BET. How dare you insult all of these children by labeling the whole crew when only a few participated in the altercation at Del Amo. If there were 500 Pu$haz Inc. followers and less then 10 people were actually involved in the incident how can you group them all as troublemakers? It is wide generalizations such as these that I would expect from a WHITE & BIASED internet site but am appauled that a raggedy, two-bit site such as yours would feed into this obvious media frenzy. What it REALLY boils down to was 500 KIDS WHICH WERE PREDOMINANTLY BLACK were in a white area with a known prejudiced police force and some kids got into a dumb fight - period. The main players of Pu$haz Inc. like YG, PROJECT or the first lady Jade were not involved nor were any of their immediate entourage. Stop encouraging the hate people, it's time for a change like Obama said. Be more responsible in your reporting/blogging because this bs article is bordering on slander and libel. The Pu$ha Inc. kids are about promoting their up and coming concerts and parties. They are aspiring ARTISTS and NOT bad examples for ANY RACE of teens - PERIOD!
Get it right before you write it - jerks...
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