Three people, including two college students, are facing charges after a house party on the University of Delaware campus spiraled out of control.
The mayhem began Monday around 11:30 p.m. after Newark Police responded to a house party on the 400 block of South College Avenue which officials say had become “disorderly.” When officers arrived, they say they found over a thousand people in the area as well as a DJ set up in the backyard of the home.
Police say several people were urinating in public and trespassing through other yards in the area. The residents of the home, identified as 19-year-old Anthony Ladisernia and 20-year-old Evan Touzzoli, were both arrested and charged with hosting a disorderly premise. Both Ladisernia and Touzzoli are students at the University of Delaware.
As officers were dispersing the crowd, investigators say a mob began to block traffic on South College Avenue. Police also say people began to walk on the hoods of cars. According to investigators, one person was recording the entire ordeal with a camera, causing the crowd to swell around it and act even wilder. Police say they took the cameraman, identified as 26-year-old Marcus Hyde, of Chesterfield, VA into custody and charged him with disorderly conduct. According to investigators, Hyde is part of "I'm Shmacked," a group that starts and records college parties across the country and then posts the footage online.
Police say the crowd continued onto Main Street and swelled to several thousand people. They also say the crowd continued to block traffic and walk onto cars. Around 75 officers from the University of Delaware Police, New Castle County Police and Delaware State Police responded to the scene to help disperse the mob.
“There was everyone on the roof, they knocked down a fence,” said a student who attended. “It was a riot. They were jumping and screaming bad things at the cops and throwing beer bottles. I’m not a fan of it. I think it makes us kind of look bad.”
Police say several cars and signs were damaged. They have not yet revealed the exact cost in property damage however. No officers or members of the crowd were injured during the incident.
The University of Delaware Office of Student Conduct will hold an emergency hearing for the two students who were arrested.
The University also sent a letter to students.
"To be sure, the vast majority of students did not and would not participate in such an embarrassing, dangerous and costly episode," the letter stated. "The few who did have cast a negative light on the University as a whole and on the character of our community."
You can read the complete letter here.
Police continue to investigate the incident and say more arrests could be coming in the future.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said another student who attended. “Even though it was the wrong thing to do, it was still epic.”
Photo Credit: NBC10.com