‘A frantic melee’ in downtown Olympia prompts 5 arrests
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, August 15, 2017
The Olympian
OLYMPIA — Five people were arrested early Sunday after a large fight erupted inside a nightclub and then spilled into the streets of downtown Olympia, according to Olympia Police Lt. Paul Lower.
The bar is called The Level, and used to be known as the Big Whiskey Saloon, he said.
Police were dispatched to the 400 block of Franklin Street at about 1 a.m. Sunday. Some 911 callers reported seeing a person carrying a gun at the disturbance, Lower said.
“Two walking patrol officers quickly arrived at the scene where they were confronted with a very large crowd in a frantic melee,” Lower wrote in a news release. “Several physical fights were occurring while other people were screaming, cursing and threatening each other. The two officers immediately spotted a man carrying an assault rifle. The man chambered a round into the firearm as he walked into the mix of the large disturbance.”
Officers ordered the man to drop the firearm and get to the ground.
“The man complied with the officers’ demands, placing his firearm into the trunk of a nearby vehicle and then laying on the ground,” Lower said.
Several people in the crowd then turned against the officers, Lower said.
“The crowd grew, became more hostile, and began encircling the two officers,” he wrote.
Two officers deployed pepper spray at the group, he said.
The crowd continued to grow in size to estimates of 150-200 people.
Officers from Tumwater, Lacey and Yelm Police departments and the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene, Lower said.
“Officers arrested several people for fighting in public, interfering with law enforcement, and other crimes associated with this large brawl,” Lower said. “Officers seized the vehicle with the firearm inside for a later search warrant.”
Several people sustained minor injuries from the fights, but nobody was transported to hospital from the scene, Lower said.
Two of the people arrested, including the man who displayed a weapon, were from Puyallup, one was from Bremerton, and two are from Olympia, according to the news release.
