Police have responded to a report of a fight at the carnival in downtown Batavia.
When the first unit he arrived, the officer reported "quite a fight." He immediately called for an ambulance for a person having a seizure.
A subject was reportedly seen fleeing west on Ellicott Street and crossing the street toward Della Penna's. Police are looking for two white males, with one wearing a white T-shirt.
UPDATE 10:04 p.m.: One of the subjects who fled reportedly dropped a knife. A second fight has reportedly broken out. Two State Police units have been called in to back up Batavia Police.
UPDATE 10:11 p.m.: Mercy EMS was requested to check on a male down behind Alberty's. He reportedly has a head laceration. There is also a report of "all suspects are black males." It's unclear if that's related to all fights or just one of the fights.
UPDATE 10:29 p.m.: One patient transported to UMMC. Police units going back in service.
UPDATE 8 a.m. Sunday: Reader Adam Lowder submitted the photo above. His description of events follows after the jump:
Adam Lowder's description of events:
I was at the carnival when the fight took place, and I have attached a photo of the aftermath.
First off I would like to say that this carnival was just plain disgusting. The majority of the ride attendants I witnessed were interacting with the patrons; using foul language, leaving their stations for minutes at a time, and one was even smoking a swisher sweet style cigar that he passed to a young patron to hold onto and smoke for a few minutes.
There were groups of unsupervised middle-school aged kids all over.
We were getting ready to leave around ten o'clock when I saw the ride attendant from the “vehicles that go in a circle” kids' ride (black male 20's red hat with goatee) wrap his arms around a black male, belly to belly, and slowly but forcefully push him across the grounds. The attendant was making statements along the lines of, "just leave" and the male being forced back was saying, "did you hear what he said" repeatedly.
After a minute of this and after a few other people involved yelled towards the two men, the ride attendant in red let go of the male who took off towards Jackson St. Seconds later a group of people (prominently if not all black males) took off running in the same direction.
Ten to fifteen seconds later a few more males ran passed me in the same direction. That is when I saw a crowd of observers gathering on Jackson St. and people screaming and yelling.
As I approached the area, I could see a large group of people involved in physical actions (some jumping around, some swinging their arms, some taking pictures with their phones) in the middle of the street.
An officer in a SUV pulled up with his lights flashing and the group quickly scattered. A few more police cruisers quickly arrived on the seen. I did not see the police apprehend any of those involved, or really even attempt to do so. They all came to the man that was left lying in the middle of the street.
A few minutes later, two of the cruisers rushed over towards Rt. 63, and one stopped next to the Salvation Army.
One thing that I am certain of is that some of the ride attendants were involved in this. The one that I mentioned earlier who was smoking the cigar was in the group that ran past me. He was a black male wearing a Kobe Bryant Lakers jersey, and he was running the “Rio Grande Train” kids’ ride.
I stopped to snap this photo as I walked back to my car parked across from O’Lacy’s Bar.
At this point, the injured male was still lying in the road, paramedics had arrived, there was a crowd of people watching, and a couple of officers were standing near the victim watching.
Just shows how pathetic and
Just shows how pathetic and immature people are to fight at family functions. The carnival is for families to have a good time and then immature people bring their nonsense to it.
It is pathetic Erica. I drove
It is pathetic Erica. I drove by the carnival Friday, and there were a group of black boys gathered around a gentlemen, that I assume was hiring them to help set up. Maybe they could shed some light, on the events of the evening.
I know too, that our city, is being over run by disrespectful, knife toten, gangbangin, drug dealin, immature, uneducated youth, and inner city troublemakers. They need to go back to Rochester, and Buffalo where they came from, and get the hell out of our fine city. This problem is gotten progressively worse over the last 5-10 years.
A large percentage if Kids today are from broken homes, who's parents (if they even have them) dont instill moral conduct, and respect in their offspring. Babies having babies, and nothin stopping them. The welfare system is enabling them to continue to sit on their behinds, and collect a check, without having to work for it. This has set the stage for failure, for them, and the system.
There is hope, if we can all dig deep enough, be possitive mentors, and help raise all our youth. (A job some parents dont do very well) They want to live here in our fine city, there needs to be Accountability for their actions. The Police need to bust up gangs of kids, and make their presense known, as much as possible.
Send the young offenders, to see Batavia's drill Seargents, under Captain Davis, over at the STAR Program. I love the guy!! He is one of Batavias hidden treasures, and you can be damn sure, he and the others get the job done, when it comes to unruley youth. Start neighborhood watch groups, that patrol downtown in the summertime and report suspect behavior.
There are things that can be done, to help make our community a safer place to live and thrive. WE CANT JUST LIE DOWN AND LET OUR CITY GO TO HELL IN A HAND CART. We need action, and now. Summer is just beginning.
It takes a whole town, to raise a child right? We need to take back our streets by storm, and send a message, that we wont tolerate this conduct. It shows that we care.
Ps. Anyone who knows me, knows Im NOT a Racist!!
It is however, people like Chris , who sow the seeds of racism, over exagerate color, and play the "Race Card".
I have lived here for more that 40 years, and have friends black and white. I never once, in my post, said
anything that was remotely racist Chris. I decribed what I had seen. Find someone else to try and get going.
Karen, your 'opinion' is
Karen, your 'opinion' is baseless, unfounded, and bordering on racist.
Let me share something with you. I moved here from Rochester. I was friends with some of the real "knife toten, gangbangin, drug dealin" black people, as you put it. The black people here in Batavia -- the minority are from cities and they left to get away from that life. The majority are from the suburbs. Not all black men or black teenagers are violent or drug dealers, nor do they carry knives, especially in Batavia. While I may not be black, your comments are quite stereotypical and personally offending. I'd love to see your face if and when you insult a black father that's smarter than you are and he gives you a piece of his mind.
I've lived here three years. The people, the streets, the culture -- it's really not that bad. Howard grew up in a city worse than Rochester. I'm pretty sure he'll even say it's not bad here. Maybe it isn't as safe as it was 10 years ago. Even still, it's not to the point where we need to "reclaim the streets by storm". Yeah, there's a few streets in Batavia even I rather not walk down alone at night.
Bringing children up correctly, instilling some sort of ethics and moral center, that isn't a skin color problem. It's an intelligence problem. There are parents that are not smart enough to raise children. Don't be hating on the black people. There's more than enough white families here in Batavia that are dumber than a box of nails.
Some advice for the wise. The ghetto culture that a lot of the black people in Batavia represent. It isn't violent or immature, nor is a skin color thing. It represents a lifestyle, a way of growing up and coping with a hard life from birth. Don't knock it or the people repping it because you can't understand or relate.
If we look at the time frame
If we look at the time frame of these incidents, I would have to think that most Family's that brought their children had already gone home.
Here is a few things to think about:
1) Close these events down at 9:00 pm?
2) Go back to the old days of having 2 Beat Police Officers patrol the area ( Like their not busy enough )
3) Let the City assign groups of responsible adults ( working in 4 hour shifts ) to maintain order.
This would be kind of like the neighborhood watch group that Karen had made mention of in her post.
The bottom line,it's just a shame that any of these ideas would even come to mind.
I like what Chris wrote
I like what Chris wrote except for this part:
"Some advice for the wise. The ghetto culture that a lot of the black people in Batavia represent. It isn't violent or immature, nor is a skin color thing. It represents a lifestyle, a way of growing up and coping with a hard life from birth. Don't knock it or the people repping it because you can't understand or relate".
I feel that you dont understand what "ghetto culture" really means coz if you are representin that then it's totally violent. I also find quite a few baggy panted "light skinned" youths trying to represent ghetto culture and the rough life they have in this violent city of Batavia ? Unless you are from the "STREET" you cant expect anyone to relate or understand but it doesnt give anyone the right to act out or break laws. I think they call that "fronting". I cannot speak for any "tanned or dark skinned" people but I can speak from being on the "Street". (Word).
It is unfortunate this
It is unfortunate this happened.
Just minutes before the call went out, Billie and I were talking about what a good event this is for the community -- where people from the various social and economic strata of the community come together for the fun of the kids. You really do see all types at the carnival, from politicians' wives to moms drawing food stamps.
It really should be about the kids having fun, regardless of skin color or the relative wealth of the parents. In fact, one of the great things about the carnival is that so many kids whose parents can't necessarily afford a lot of entertainment get to enjoy this carnival.
I'm not going to read too much into this incident about culture or where people are from or what their backgrounds are. Obviously, the people involved have some impulse control issues to work on and need to develop a better understanding of proper public behavior, but those problems are nothing new to human history.
I agree Howard. I loved the
I agree Howard. I loved the pictures of all the happy kids and their families having fun. Shame on anyone that has to ruin it. I just hope that these young kids don't suffer trauma from this incident and feel they need to embrace "ghetto culture" when they get older ! (sarcasm).
I took my daughter to this
I took my daughter to this disgusting event at 12:30 pm on Saturday. I was extremely appalled by the uncleanliness and rudeness of not only the attendants, but of the entire carnival as a whole!
As noted above, all of the attendants that MY 7 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER and I saw, usually had a cigarette hanging from their lips; especially while "assisting" CHILDREN on and off of the poorly kept rides.
I too would like to comment on the unsupervised teens roaming around; setting a very bad example for the little ones, as they puffed on their cigarettes as well!
One teen in particular really saddened me. This girl must have been around 14 or 15. She was with a friend, both wearing revealing clothing; both "supervising" two young girls appearing to be twins around the age of 9.
My daughter played with the "twin" girls and went on some rides with them, so I grew to be a little attached and perhaps even watchful of them as their supervision was seemingly nonexistent.
The girls ran out of tickets and we sadly parted ways. It was only moments later when I looked over to see one of the 9 year old girls sitting on a curb with the two teens. She was squished in between the teens, who were sharing a cigarette! The obvious look of distress on the little girls face prompted one of the teens (the one I believe to be her older sister) TO BLOW THE SMOKE DIRECTLY INTO THE LITTLE GIRLS FACE! :(
It's just so sad what the lack of proper supervision can do to the development of our young children!
Suffice it to say; I will not be attending this distasteful event next year.
I unfortunately have to agree
I unfortunately have to agree w/ Karen's comments-this city has been declining rapidly the past few years.Drive up and down Main St- they used to have a spring carnival by Mcdonalds on West Main a few years back.I used to enjoy going to St. Joes(or whatever they call it now)-the past few years I have went,it's being overrun by a bunch of young,unsupervised punks.Yep,Batavia is going by the wayside-look at how many for sale signs are being put up-we definitely will have the "big city" feel now-I see we will have a "Pawn King" on the west end(in plaza w/ Peebles)-it should have been put downtown-where the burgled items could be turned in easier....
Seems like the only people
Seems like the only people who make money on this was the company that put up the rides...
What did it do to help promote downtown business..Great idea just poorly planned..I was there and thought why no local merchants booths set up..I agree with Sarah and Karen..very dirty ..
Sarah said: I took my
Sarah said: I took my daughter to this disgusting event at 12:30 pm on Saturday. I was extremely appalled by the uncleanliness and rudeness of not only the attendants, but of the entire carnival as a whole!
The only thing that surprises me, is that people are still surprised at the appalling nature of traveling carnivals.
Did anyone really expect to find clean cut, professional attendants operating this event?
I remember gathering around
I remember gathering around fights of groups of kids at carnivals when there wasn't a black face to be found in Genesee County. If it was a bunch of kids fighting, unless they were fighting over race, it happens across all social and economic strata. All it takes is a couple of hotheads with friends and no one with the guts to break it up. Whenever there is a fight like that what they are hoping for is the cops to flash their lights so everyone can run away.
I've been to
I've been to midways/carnivals in at least four counties, including the Del Mar Fair, which is one of the biggest fairs in California. I practically grew up at that fair and have been to it at least 18 or 19 times.
This carnival is no cleaner nor no dirtier than any other I've ever been too, and I've seen a lot worse looking carnies that I've seen the past couple of days.
This isn't Disneyland nor Universal Studios. If it were, few of us could afford to attend.
If anybody's down on this carnival, I suggest you go through again my two days of pictures. There's lots of smiling kids. They don't notice the scratches on the merry-go-round horses or the black streaks on the slide nor think ill of the carny who hasn't shaved in a week. Look at the smiles and thrills in their faces. They're just having fun. And when they lay their heads down at night, they'll dream of every ride as if it had been built and maintained by Walt Disney himself.
I'm not disagreeing, per se, with anybody, just saying there's another way of looking at it, and the important thing to remember -- if the kids are having fun and not being harmed, it's a good thing.
As for the kids there who are unsupervised -- if they weren't at the carnival unsupervised, those same kids would be at home unsupervised, or on the streets unsupervised, or in a park unsupervised. That's a societal problem, not a carnival problem.