Greensboro Police found about 1,000 people at a block party where were expecting only about 10. | Pexels/Cameron Casey
Greensboro Police found about 1,000 people at a block party where were expecting only about 10. | Pexels/Cameron Casey
Greensboro Interim Police Chief Teresa Biffle is reminding residents not to feel shy about calling police about an activity that they suspect could turn into something worse.
“We would rather know about something than have to show (up) and use additional resources when something gets out of control,” Biffle said, according to CBS17.com.
That plea was issued after one such incident last week. Greensboro officers were called to respond to a block party where they thought they would find about 10 people, but they found more than 1,000 and an event that had gotten out of hand, with partygoers reportedly throwing large rocks at police property. Officers ended up using pepper spray and tear gas to break up the crowd.
“The gathering that we had two nights ago, it was reported 10 people and it ended up being well over 1,000, so please don’t hesitate to call,” Biffle told CBS17.com.
Officers saw some of the people standing in the roadways of Fulton Street and Houston Street, as well as overcrowded apartments, when they arrived at the Houston Street scene. It was only a year ago when the Greensboro police responded to two similar incidents on Clifton Road where large parties overcrowded upper-level apartments, causing structural damage and portions of the buildings collapsed with people inside. This time, callers noted the same concern when calling Guilford Metro 911 system during Tuesday’s incident.
Additional resources requested that evening included all Greensboro patrol districts, the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office and any other law enforcement agency that could help move the large crowd. People threw bottles and large rocks at officers and their vehicles soon after the assistance arrived. At that point, officers began using pepper fogger spray, a larger handheld version of personal pepper spray, to deter the crowd.
After the pepper spray was deployed, the crowd dispersed and no injuries were reported. An investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made. Police also are conducting an internal investigation to determine whether Greensboro Police Department policies were followed during the situation.
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