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Criminal Justice

Dozens arrested in latest downtown youth disturbance

Chicago Tribune
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Officers detain several people as police attempt to disperse a young crowd gathered near South Canal

Officers detain several people as police attempt to disperse a young crowd gathered near South Canal Street and West Roosevelt Road on July 30, 2023. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

Chicago police officers arrested 40 people in the South Loop late Sunday after hundreds took part in the latest “teen trend” gathering in the city’s downtown area.

The large group gathered near West Roosevelt Road and South Canal Street and mobbed a nearby convenience store as a series of fights broke out, officials said. Officers started to make arrests around 8 p.m., police said, after those in the group refused orders to leave the area.

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Police records show that CPD Deputy Chief Jon Hein declared a mass arrest situation at 9:22 p.m.

Large youth gatherings downtown have remained a vexing problem for police for the last decade. Organized over social media, typically during the warm summer months, the crowds of teens have sometimes turned violent.

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“Our posture has been tolerance, and usually when we say that it’s curfew and we ask them to disperse, they do. Yesterday, they, so to speak, crossed a line,” CPD Superintendent Fred Waller said at a Monday news conference.

Johnathon Puckett, 40, cleans an aisle after a group of young people stole items from a 7-Eleven earlier in the evening on July 30, 2023.

Johnathon Puckett, 40, cleans an aisle after a group of young people stole items from a 7-Eleven earlier in the evening on July 30, 2023. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

From right, Charles McKenzie, of Englewood First Responders, Joseph Williams, of Mr. Dad’s Father’s Club, and Tyrone Muhammad of Ex-Cons for Community and Social Change, talk with a young person while trying to help officers disperse a large group of young people gathered near the intersection of South Canal Street and West Roosevelt Road.

From right, Charles McKenzie, of Englewood First Responders, Joseph Williams, of Mr. Dad’s Father’s Club, and Tyrone Muhammad of Ex-Cons for Community and Social Change, talk with a young person while trying to help officers disperse a large group of young people gathered near the intersection of South Canal Street and West Roosevelt Road. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

“It should send a message to the families and to the parents,” Waller added. “We know everyone doesn’t have a predictable home life, but we’re trying to deal with the youth in a certain way, to try to offer other things for them to do and other avenues (aside from) arrests … But this group got so out of hand that we had no choice. We had street intervention people out there also who helped us, but it just got so out of hand that we had to effect some arrests.”

Of those arrested, 30 were juveniles between 12 to 17 years old, according to CPD. Those arrestees were each charged with reckless conduct, a misdemeanor.

Seven other teens, boys and girls ranging in age from 14 to 17, were arrested and face charges including unlawful use of a weapon, criminal trespass, disorderly conduct, obstructing identification and resisting arrest, according to CPD.

Officers recovered several illegally possessed guns as well, according to police.

Officers detain a person as police attempt to disperse a large group of young people gathered near the intersection of South Canal Street and West Roosevelt Road on July 30, 2023.

Officers detain a person as police attempt to disperse a large group of young people gathered near the intersection of South Canal Street and West Roosevelt Road on July 30, 2023. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

Sunday’s gathering came about three months after another such gathering downtown led to a disturbance and fights breaking out near Millennium Park, during which three teens were wounded in two separate shootings.

As the search for the next permanent CPD superintendent continued earlier this year, leaders of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability said that strategies to quell youth gatherings downtown were a topic during the candidate interview phase of the search.

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