GreekChat.com Forums - Riots near U of Washington

Hundreds involved in U District melee

By JANE HADLEY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

All available Seattle police, the State Patrol, a sheriff's helicopter and campus police were needed to quell an alcohol-fueled disturbance early yesterday morning in the fraternity district north of the University of Washington.

Police said they knew of no injuries.

A mattress was set afire in a street, a vehicle was turned over, and other cars, including three police cars, were damaged. Police estimated total property damage at $6,000.

One person was arrested for damaging a police car.

The worst part of the melee centered on Northeast 47th Street and 18th Avenue Northeast, one block east of "Fraternity Row." Witnesses and people who called police estimated 300 to 500 people were involved.

Students who live in the neighborhood said several houses in the 4700 block of 18th, both Greek houses and private rooming houses, were having parties. Word got out, and others from outside the area, possibly including non-students, were drawn.

The UW fall quarter begins today.

Police sent 10 officers during the day and another 10 at night door-to-door in the neighborhood yesterday in search of information.

"Officers spoke with some very good witnesses that provided some very good information that will hopefully lead to arrests," police spokesman Scott Moss said last night.

Moss said police also received "digital pictures of people engaging in criminal activity."

Police also intend to review videotape -- shot by officers and private citizens -- to see whether those images can lead to more arrests.

Seattle police Chief Gil Kerlikowske is scheduled to meet today with UW officials, UW police and representatives from Mayor Greg Nickels' office.

Bob Roseth, a UW spokesman, said: "We're obviously anxious and eager to prevent something like that from happening again. We'll all work together to try to see what we can do."

The university has formal agreements with most fraternities and sororities regarding parties and alcohol, but Roseth and others cautioned against assuming that the disturbance was the fault of the Greek system.

"There's no reason to presume every person there was from the Greek system," Roseth said. "There are rooming houses and apartments in that area. I don't even know if all of them were students."

Kerlikowske said police were called to the neighborhood about 11 p.m. by people complaining about loud parties. Officers broke up the parties. At 1:30 p.m., police were called about a large crowd at the intersection of 47th and 18th. A second call came reporting that debris -- which turned out to be a mattress -- was burning in the street. The crowd was throwing objects at passing motorists including police.

Hillary Atwood, a UW senior majoring in economics who lives in a private rooming house in the 4700 block of 18th, said she was awakened at 2:30 a.m. by her boyfriend who told her there was a fire in the street and "people were going crazy."

She said she went onto the porch and saw people throwing cans and chanting at police.

She came out later and saw that "riot police" had arrived, quickly dispersing the crowd.

The disorder ended about 3 a.m., police and others said.

Kerlikowske said police called in all available officers in the city -- 63. It's the first time in several years that has been done. "When you end up depleting police on the streets like this, it puts the other parts of the city at risk," he said.

The King County Sheriff's Office provided its helicopter. The Washington State Patrol posted officers on the perimeter of the area. And the UW police provided seven officers. A total of 70 to 75 officers were deployed, some in full body armor, Kerlikowske said.

Some officers used pepper spray to disperse the crowd.

"We are going to increase our patrols to make sure something like this is stopped earlier," Kerlikowske said.

Dan Sheed, 19, who lives in a fraternity house at Northeast 47th Street and 17th Avenue Northeast, insisted yesterday that most of the people involved were non-students.

"Random houses organized a block party," he said. "Word spreads quickly. Most of these people didn't seem as if they went to college."

Sheed said a friend was walking to a fraternity house, and six men attacked him, tearing "his shirt to bits" and leaving him bloodied.

Sheed expressed fear that the melee would be blamed on the Greek system, though "it couldn't be farther from the truth."

"It'd be easy to pin it on us," he said. "It's just making us look terrible."

UW fraternities and their parties have been blamed in recent years for injuries, fights and even sexual assaults. Recently, two women sued the UW, saying it failed to properly oversee fraternities. The women contend they were raped after attending fraternity parties.

Atwood agreed the incident early yesterday was not essentially a fraternity or sorority disturbance. She said several people she spoke to were Shoreline Community College students. "I think it was too many people under the influence in too small an area, and that created conflict," she said.

Jan Hazen of Anchorage, Alaska, dropped off her son at a house in the 4700 block of 18th about 1 a.m. and said: "There were lots of kids in the street. It was hard to even get through. Kids just standing in the street, milling." But she said she noticed no fights, fires or other disturbances at the time.

Steven Ricci, a junior electrical engineering major who lives in a private house in the same block, said he was wandering around in his yard talking with people and going into his house to watch movies.

Ricci said he thought the partying would have "fizzled out" if police hadn't shown up, although he acknowledged it was noisy. "I don't think it would have gotten violent," he said.

Gary Brenden, a retired computer technician who lives on the block, said he went to bed about 10:30 p.m. and was awakened three or four times by the noise.

"They were really rowdy," he said. He moved to a shared house in the neighborhood about a year ago, attracted by the low rent.

"I've kind of gotten used to it after being here a year, but last night was a bit much," he said.