Tweet
New Brunswick police director blames Rutgersfest music festival for mayhem
[YT]PzACFtRqrFs[/YT]
New Brunswick’s police director admonished Rutgers University officials today after the school’s annual Rutgersfest ended Friday night with two shootings, five injuries and eleven arrests for disorderly conduct in the area surrounding the Rutgers campus.
Police Director Pete Mangarella called the annual day-long free event, featuring games, rides and a concert, "the worst thing of the year for the city of New Brunswick." He added that the incidents "were the worst we have seen" in the history of the event.
"We were trying to get the university to curtail this last year," Mangarella said. "The city’s concerns over this event are falling on deaf ears."
Though none of the incidents happened on Rutgers’ campus, law enforcement officials said the popular event, which drew an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 people to a concert featuring hip-hop artists Pitbull and Yelawolf and electronic-pop act 3OH!3, was the cause of the late-night mayhem.
University officials said they had meetings with New Brunswick Police before the event and beefed up security in an attempt to provide greater security.
"The university heard New Brunswick’s concerns and, for that reason, in response to the city’s request, the university provided funding for additional New Brunswick police officers this year to patrol the city’s streets," said university spokesman E.J. Miranda in a statement. "This year, the university also provided additional Rutgers police officers to assist New Brunswick police. Public safety is our top priority."
The concerts, held on Rutgers’ Busch campus in Piscataway, ended at 8 p.m. Afterwards, shuttle buses usually transport students to College Avenue, where alcohol-fueled parties often are held.
Mangarella said many high school students, out-of-towners and non-Rutgers college students attend the concerts and parties.
"It boggles the mind that a university in this day and age would sponsor an event promoting drinking to this level by underage people," he said.
Miranda said the university shared concerns over the number of outsiders increasingly attracted to the 30-year-old event.
"The university is already in discussions with New Brunswick officials about the incidents that occurred and about what steps can be taken going forward," he said.
None of the people reported injured in the shootings was a Rutgers student, said New Brunswick Police Lt. J.T. Miller.
The injuries caused by the shootings were not life-threatening, police said. No arrests in the shootings had been made.
Shortly after midnight, an 18-year-old victim was shot twice, once in each leg, during a dispute outside of a bar at Easton Avenue and Albany Street, Miller said.
Later, another dispute lead to the shooting of two brothers near College Avenue and Hamilton Street. One, a 19-year-old, was shot twice in the buttocks. The other was grazed on the thigh, according to Miller.
Then at 1:45 a.m., a 17-year-old leaving a party on Huntington Street near Easton Avenue was hit in the head with a bottle causing an injury that sent him to the hospital, Miller said.
The trouble continued through this morning, when another 17-year-old showed up at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital with a bullet wound to his left hip. He told authorities the shooting occurred near Rutgers, Miller said.
Miller said New Brunswick police and Rutgers University police flooded Easton Avenue with an additional 40 officers to deal with the Rutgersfest aftermath through 4 a.m.
"There were thousands and thousands more (people) than we have on a normal night," Miller said of the crowds.
Source: NJ.com