Throughout most of the night, the crowd was under control, Wibert said.

“Most of the people in the crowd were being peaceful,” he said. “Our goal was to single out those few who were acting out and endangering others and arrest them while leaving the rest of the crowd alone.”

But around 1:30 a.m., Wibert said the crowd suddenly became hostile. A stop sign was ripped from the ground at the intersection of Waters Edge Drive and Cedar Street and the number of objects being thrown into the crowd and at police increased.

At about 2:07 a.m., police launched flash bangs, which are loud firecracker-like devices, and smoke bombs, but when most of the crowd refused to disperse, tear gas was launched several minutes later.

“We used tear gas as a last resort,” Wibert said. “We used a lot of restraint last night in our actions.”

Throughout the incident, police launched 24 smoke grenades, 20 flash bangs, 20 stingball grenades, which disperse small rubber pellets, and 13 rounds of tear gas.

During the 2005 disturbances in Cedar Village, Wibert said police fired 299 rounds of tear gas.
Fifty-two arrests were made and 48 tickets were issued throughout the night. About half of those were MSU students.

Wibert said police don’t have concrete estimates of the number of injuries, but many injuries resulted from alcohol incapacitation and injuries due to thrown beer bottles, cans, rocks and bricks. About every officer reported being hit by thrown objects at least once throughout the night, but none received injuries that required medical attention, Wibert said.

Wibert said damage to personal property was relatively minimal, but the windshield of one police vehicle and the left rear window of another were smashed. Four fires were reported during the course of the night, including Dumpster fires throughout the complex and piles of burning beer boxes in the middle of the crowd.

East Lansing police Capt. Kim Johnson said police don’t know if damage to downtown businesses, including broken windows, was a result of Cedar Fest or isolated incidents.

“Our investigation right now is centered around the Cedar Village area, and then our investigations bureau will go ahead and look at other parts, other crimes in the city and see if we can try to track those individuals down,” he said.

East Lansing Mayor Vic Loomis said officials will seek the strictest legal action against those arrested. He also said the city is encouraging the university to take disciplinary action against those involved in the riot.

While an estimate of the total cost to the city hasn’t been determined, Loomis said cleanup costs, overtime payment of workers and compensation to neighboring police and emergency medical teams called in to assist will all factor in. He said those convicted in connection with the melee will be pursued for monetary compensation.