Police disperse Cedar Village crowd; few incidents reported
By staff reports (Last updated: 04/05/09 11:56am)Police dispersed a crowd near the Cedar Village area at 2 a.m. Sunday morning, about five hours after fans swarmed Cedar Street following the MSU men’s basketball team’s victory Saturday night in Detroit.
East Lansing police Chief Tom Wibert said the crowd on Cedar Street remained about 2,000 people-strong for several hours after about 10 p.m. The crowd was down to about 1,000 by 1:45 a.m. Sunday morning.
“Overall, it was a good night,” Wibert said. “Everyone was just having fun.”
Police made about 60 arrests, according to an E.L.P.D. press release issued Sunday morning. Offenses included throwing objects, indecent exposure, attempted arson and assault.
The arrests began at about 9 p.m., when police put on helmets and other protective gear.
Officers were practicing “friendly enforcement,” arresting only the revelers who were throwing objects, exposing themselves or otherwise breaking the law, and agreeing to take pictures with others.
“Looking at the celebration, things look good,” Wibert said at about 10:30 p.m. “As long as it’s non-violent, we’re doing good.”
Wibert said about 30 to 40 undercover officers were stationed throughout the crowd. E.L.P.D. was assisted by neighboring departments, as more than 230 officers handled duties throughout the night.
Carol Koenig, president of ACLU of Lansing, said she heard no reports of wrongdoings by police as of about 10 p.m.
“The ACLU is here to look out for civil liberties and protect the U.S. Constitution,” she said. “We hope we don’t have any problems, and there haven’t been any problems yet.”
Brian Husler, a business freshman, said he thought because MSU won, the crowd in Cedar Village was rowdy, but not angry.
“I thought there would be tear gas and I’m really surprised they haven’t deployed it already,” he said. “I think the police are handling it very well.”
Killian Lynam, a business sophomore, said he was in middle of the crowd on Cedar Street for about 15 minutes.
“It was the best time of my life,” he said. “Then, (the police) shined a light on us and looked like they were about to use the loudspeakers, so I got out of there.”
Laura Anderson, general management senior, said she hoped students would respond to MSU head coach Tom Izzo’s calling for students to celebrate with “class.”
“I cried my eyes out when we won. It just makes me so happy. This is wonderful,” Anderson said. “I just wish we could take this goodness and take Izzo’s message into consideration. It’s amazing to be a part of the team; it would be even more special if we could do it with class.”
Smith Atwood, a kinesiology junior, said the crowd in Cedar Village appeared similar in size to the one that gathered in April 2008 for Cedar Fest, when police made 56 arrests and used 13 rounds of tear gas to disperse the crowd.
“It’s about the same as last year, but it looks a lot safer this year,” Atwood said. “I haven’t seen many bottles being thrown or anything.”
Another crowd assembled near Albert and M.A.C. avenues and reached a peak of about 300 people at about 9:20 p.m. Fans chanted “M-S-U!” and “Go Green, Go White!”, but few arrests were made.
Originally Published: 04/04/09 9:24pm
MSU Student
04/04/09 11:06pmWay to go! Glad to see our basketball team did amazing, let the partying happen. PLEASE, don’t be dumbasses. Let’s have a little it of class…
04/04/09 11:22pmhave fun and be safe everyone
Happy
04/04/09 11:38pmI drove through East Lansing after the game. Everyone was very happy and partying responsibly. Let’s keep it up and show the world Michigan knows how to support it’s teams and party responsibly.
Alum
04/05/09 2:10amThis is what happened in 2005 but for some reason the cops decided to shoot tear gas at everyone…hopefully this year the ELPD and MSU cops aren’t so trigger happy and don’t start a riot!!!
Jordan S.
04/05/09 2:19amThis was quite fun
lol
04/05/09 3:38amamazing game, first game I actually watched fully.. Last 2 min gave me some nail biting. Lets just hope people won’t riot if we lose in the final. Show people that we are actually worthy of something.
Ed T
04/05/09 10:33amGreat job to everyone involved.
The police response was pretty massive but also restrained, and they were effective in keeping MSU students from hurting themselves, each other, and destroying property.
Congrats to cops and studnets alike on a great evening.
Spartan Alum
04/05/09 10:59amI am proud of you, Cedar Village. Keep up the good behavior. Don’t embarass the MSU community like you did last year.
04/05/09 11:08amI totally second Spartan Alums words. It’s great to NOT be disgraced by people that are fully out of control. It does tarnish our image around the country. So let’s stay in order!
Megan
04/05/09 11:21amI was very impressed with the behavior of the students at Cedar Village. In contrast, I’m disappointed by the multimedia clip on the State News website with images from Cedar Village. The fact that MSU students were well behaved was overshadowed by the negative context in the second half of the video. You could have painted a better picture of this great campus, but I guess that doesn’t sell papers.
Anne '07
04/05/09 2:09pmMegan: The State News is free! Buuut…that aside, I know what you’re getting at, the last half was pretty negative.
Alex M.
04/05/09 2:18pmI was in the area last night and was very impressed with what I saw from both the students and specifically the police officers. Obviously there were some people that took it too far, but all in all, they were just looking to have a good time. It was nice to see all the energy after the big win being channeled into a positive demonstration. Also, the officers did a great job of letting the students have fun as long as they were not a danger to themselves or others for the most part. Props MSU and PD crowd control!
Decent Policing, Perosnal Responsibility
04/05/09 2:41pmTo ALUM,
We do have a different East Lansing police chief from 2005, one who is an MSU alum and doesn’t view MSU students as enemies. CedarFest last year was ruined largely by outsiders and a few MSU students coming in for the purpose of rioting. This year there was fewer, and the police handled themselves and the crowds well
Fewer people in Cedar Village probably had to do with the belligerent outsiders going to Detroit to make trouble, and not ruining MSU’s reputation.
Good job MSU students, police, and MSU basketball team. Let’s win the National Championship with Class.
Happy
04/05/09 2:50pmThanks so much to the wisened police, letting the students have fun, and the students, acting responsibly and not recklessly. A great time was had by all, and no bad publicity. Let’s do it again Monday night after we win! GO STATE!!!!
More people were arrested last night than during the actual riot
04/05/09 3:53pmFew incidents reported? Um, biased much, State News? There were 60 arrests last night compared with 52 during Cedar Fest 2008!
RE: more people
04/05/09 5:01pmThere were many more people that should have been arrested last year. This year the police took a different approach. They had officers ready and some undercover and seemed to be pretty effective in plucking out the problem starters. I believe strongly that there would have been many more arrests last year had the police used the tactics they used this year. It’s a possibility they wouldn’t have had to go to the extreme measures they did last year had they made it a point to control everything and let everybody know exactly what would happen from the beginning.
Scott
04/05/09 5:58pmOverall it was a great night. But I still think the police were a little too strict. I know people who got a noise violation who for simply having a tv outside during the game. This was like 7:00pm!! That is horrible! This was the biggest game of our lives (well besides monday) and having to pay a fine for watching it outside is rediculous. And I also agree the the end of the video with all the arrests makes it look like the students behaved badly, because I do not think that was the case at all
Ed T
04/05/09 6:22pmReply to “More People”:
Lansing State Journal reports 60 arrests out of an estimated crowd of 2000 celebrators. That means only 1 in 33 people got arrested. As things go here, that’s not too bad.
Nathan
04/05/09 6:54pmAs a student who viewed last years festivities and yesterdays the two events were light years apart. I’m sure most of the 60 arrests made were completely justified. Every time the officers saw someone doing something stupid they went in and calmly took them out, and thus preventing it from getting out of control. The ELPD and Police Chief Wibert should be commended for learning from previous errors. Now we all can only hope that the same can be said after Monday night.
anonymous
04/05/09 9:16pmI was at Cedar Fest last year, and the cops did a much, much better job this year. I know that I am just one of many MSU students echoing the same sentiments, but as I know that the ELPD/MSUPD do monitor these messages- keep up the good work! We’re all here to have a good time, and you guys are here to keep us safe…. whatever you’re doing, keep it up, it is appreciated!
Happy Student
04/05/09 10:50pmI had so much fun at Cedar Fest! I wasn’t at last year’s, but I can justify ELPD’s behavior this year. They were great, I saw students talking to every one of them. They were laughing and celebrating with us. They took action when they saw students getting out of hand, and calmly led them away, as they should have. Really, you only got in trouble if you were on top of the crowd flashing people or throwing beer bottles, which are both obviously legitimate reasons. Props to ELPD and thanks for keeping us safe! Let’s stay classy for tomorrow as well! GO GREEN!!
TommyD
04/06/09 10:04amGlad to hear that the police have changed tactics since ’05. That was a disgraceful abuse of power and authority that the media spun against the students. Hope we can keep the same atmosphere for the final(after we win).
broncomania
04/06/09 10:29amI hope Michigan State takes it all. But I have to wonder, whatever happened to using “well” as an adverb instead of “good”?
Mike
04/06/09 4:26pmWhile I applaud the ELPD for plucking out idiots for throwing things into the crowd (I mean, who wants to get nailed in the head with a beer bottle?) the fact that they so vigorously arrested girls for indecent exposure just boggles my mind. Movies are routinely shown on campus featuring bare breasts, how is seeing them down in Cedar Village any different? The fact that some of them might face worse fines than rioters (and even be classified as sex offenders) is just disgusting.
Butter Pecan
04/06/09 6:02pmIt’s time for the police to lay down their teargas and share donuts.