SMH: 500 Philly Teens At Cookout Confront, Throw Bottles At Police
Look, I don't know what was going on before the police got there or what led to this, but we gotta do better.
Over the weekend, police showed up to a large get together in the Germantown section of the city and were met with over 500 teens that allegedly threw glass bottles at the cops.
The incident occurred in Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood on Sunday night, outside the city-run Lonnie Young Recreation Center.Police said that the incident began at around 9.30pm, when officers arrived to find the center's sidewalks and street filled with teenagers, believed to be age 12 to 17.The teens refused to go home and officers at the scene said that bottles were thrown at them as they tried to get the crowd to disperse, according to CBS Philly.Videos posted on Facebook and taken by cookout attendees showed that teens also climbed on top of cars and blocked siren-blaring cop cruisers by taunting and dancing in front of them.Despite the rife opportunity for the incident to escalate, authorities said that they decided not to make any arrests, waiting for the crowd to scatter naturally — which it did after a few hours.Police said that there were no reported injuries to either officers or civilians.Authorities closed the rec center for the night and asked local business, where teens were said to be hiding out after the mob, to close up as well, reports ABC 6.Word about the unauthorized cookout at the rec center is said to have been spread through social media, with one flyer promoting the 'Lonnie Young Cookout' hours as '6pm until whenever' and noting that a DJ would be there.Police said the teens had gathered at the swimming pool and basketball court — which closed at 6pm and 9pm, respectively, that night — according to FOX29. -(Daily Mail UK)
This could have ended a lot worse. Thankfully everybody kept their cool.
Credit: Facebook (Philly Manny Stacks)