Crime & Safety
Technology May Have Played a Role in ICS Carnival Fight
Prior knowledge of confrontation may have come via social networking sites; texting at the fair resulted in fast growth of groups.
The fight that broke out at the Immaculate Conception School carnival on Friday night may have been discussed beforehand on social networking sites, police said.
There was some talk about a problem that was supposed to happen at the fair on Friday evening, said Tuckahoe Police Chief John Costanzo.
On Friday night, four people were arrested and charged with first-degree riot, a felony, after a series of fights broke out towards the end of the Immaculate Conception carnival.
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In an effort to find out more information about the incident, youth officers from the Tuckahoe Police Department have spoken to various teens, including those not involved in the incident, to see if there had been any word of potential problems in advance, Costanzo said.
Some of the kids told officers that they heard there had been a problem through the Internet, he said.
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Police cannot confirm where or on what sites it occurred.
Costanzo also said that officers working at the fair on Friday witnessed small groups of kids "texting like crazy," resulting in an increase from 10 to 20 kids to upwards of 40 and 50 congregating together.
"Officers seemed to think that's one of the reasons why the number of people that were disruptive got so big fairly quickly," he said.
Police said that some of those involved in Friday night's incident attempted to return on Saturday. Officers, whose presence was ramped up for the final night of the carnival, turned them away.
While police are not releasing the names of those arrested, they are around 17 years of age.
No serious injuries were reported as a result of the fights that broke out on Friday. The worst was a broken nose, Costanzo said.
A separate arrest occurred on Saturday night, after a 16-year-old Yonkers resident, who police say was acting unruly, ran off as cops attempted to issue him a summons. Police later caught up with the youth, who was arrested for disorderly conduct.
All five arrested over the weekend are due in Village Court on June 15.
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