Nov 5, 2008 11:14 pm US/Eastern
15 Arrested In Baltimore During Obama Celebration
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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Baltimore police arrested 15 people who were part of a crowd of hundreds celebrating President-elect Barack Obama's victory in the Charles Village neighborhood.
CBS
Following Tuesday's election results, hundreds took to the streets near Johns Hopkins University to celebrate.
Kai Jackson reports
things got out of control when students and even a faculty member refused to leave.
It was a makeshift Obama victory party. Hundreds took to the streets to celebrate, some in their pajamas. They were carrying flags and chanting "Yes, we can."
"The police department got a number of calls from people upset about the noise, about people blocking streets and sidewalks and the entrance to Union Memorial," said Sterling Clifford with Baltimore City Police.
By 2 a.m., there were almost 400 people. Many were students from Hopkins, Goucher and Towson.
WJZ freelance writer and Hopkins senior Laura Gordon watched it all unfold.
"People went outside with their boom boxes. Everyone cheered, everyone met up. Things escalated. The momentum was building and I guess that's when people started getting arrested," Gordon said.
"The kids wanted to stay. They chanted that they weren't going anywhere. The officers made every reasonable accommodation to get them to go," Clifford said.
One of the arrested students, Tabitha Amendolara, says police were unprofessional and unnecessarily rough. She said that an officer roughly pulled her toward him when he handcuffed her.
Hopkins anthropology professor Aaron Goodfellow was also arrested. He says he obeyed officers' orders to leave and never resisted arrest.
"It was really frightening," he said.
Most did leave, but about 15 students and Goodfellow were arrested for disorderly conduct.
"A taser was used on one person--not at full strength. It did not require medical attention," said Clifford.
Earlier in the evening, hundreds of students attended an election-watch party feet from where their fellow students were later arrested.
"I think everyone is really shocked it escalated so far. Hopkins isn't generally known to be a party school but the political hype was big on our campus and people were so happy, they were just acting out of character," Gordon said.
The students and professor were taken to Central Booking and were released Wednesday morning.
All arrests were for disorderly conduct. There were no alcohol-related charges.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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