Youths Riot, Loot at Surf Event in Huntington Beach

Hundreds of youths went on a rampage Sunday afternoon in Huntington Beach, pelting police with rocks and bottles, storming a lifeguard station and overturning and burning police vehicles.

Authorities said at least 12 people were hurt, none seriously. The injured included a Huntington Beach police officer and an Orange County sheriff’s deputy.

Nine arrests were made, but scores of youths who threw bottles at officers, or took part in the car burnings and the assault on the lifeguard facility, escaped in the confusion.

The disturbance broke out about 2 p.m. behind bleachers that had been set up near the city pier for the final day of the Ocean Pacific Pro Surfing Contest, which drew an estimated 100,000 people to the popular Orange County beach.

Witnesses and police said the incident, which took more than two hours to control, had no direct connection with the surfing contest, but instead was triggered by two or more men who were trying to take off the bathing suits of two young women.

“I heard someone behind the bleachers yelling, ‘Take it off, take it off,”’ said Mark Bauserman, 22, a student at nearby Golden West College.

Bauserman, who was taking photos at the surfing event, said police responded to try to help the women.

Hail of Rocks and Bottles

“It started off with only about 50 people surrounding the police,” Bauserman said. “But more and more came, I don’t know how many, but it seemed that everybody on the beach stopped watching the surfing contest and came to watch what was going on. . . .”

One officer said he and 10 other officers were met by a hail of rocks and bottles. He said his group was surrounded by “about 5,000 people. They could have killed us if they wanted to.”

Retreating under the barrage, officers took refuge in the two-story Vincent G. Moorhouse Lifeguard Headquarters, an administration and maintenance building about half a mile down the beach.

Thousands of people, many of them continuing to throw objects at the police, followed.

The huge crowd surrounded the building and began jeering at police and lifeguards inside, according to witnesses and officers.

Some of the rioters then broke apart a metal fence railing and used parts of it to shatter windows in five police vehicles parked nearby. After breaking windows and headlights of the police cars, the rioters turned the vehicles over and set them afire. An eyewitness said that some rioters found safety flares in the police cars and used those to start the blazes.

As the cars were burning, the mob then began trying to enter the lifeguard building, police and witnesses said. The officers and lifeguards inside decided to evacuate, taking several injured people with them.

But the chief of lifeguards, Marine Safety Lt. Bill Richardson, 42, decided to remain in the building.

“I was worried what would happen to the money and equipment inside,” he later told a reporter. “There was too much in this building just to give it up to them.”

Fired Shot

The rioters broke windows to gain entry to a downstairs storage area. They carried off a number of bicycles, life-saving equipment and even private clothes of the lifeguards, police said.

Richardson, who was alone on the second floor, armed himself with a gun and started walking down the stairs to face the looters. He said he fired one warning shot into the ceiling.

“They (the looters) took off like it was the 100-yard dash,” Richardson said.

The crowd continued to mill around the building, with Richardson alone inside. He was rescued about 45 minutes later when Huntington Beach police, reinforced by personnel from the sheriff’s office and several Orange County cities, marched down from Pacific Coast Highway.

Officers in Riot Gear

Most of the officers were wearing riot gear, and several had night sticks, which they swung at people in the crowd.

Several eyewitnesses, including a Huntington Beach city councilman who was trapped in an observation tower during the riot, said police acted with restraint.

But many young people who were at the crowded beach charged that police indiscriminately clubbed anyone in sight as they tried to clear the area.

“I was just sitting on my bike when the cops came running up,” said Richard Lopez, 17, of Gardena. “One of them hit me.”

Many other young people claimed that police hit them without provocation during the move to clear the area around the lifeguard building, and later during a sweep to clear everyone from the beach and pier.

Acted With Restraint

But other witnesses, including City Councilman Don MacAllister, said officers acted with restraint.

MacAllister was a guest of honor at the surfing contest, and he was in a special observation tower used by judges and computer technicians.

“I have nothing but pride for the way the police acted,” he said. “I was trapped up there and I could see the police as they were surrounded below us.”

MacAllister and another councilman, Peter Green, both said Sunday night that the City Council will thoroughly examine the beach riot during a council meeting Tuesday night.

“I imagine there will be some people pressuring us now to end the surfing contests,” MacAllister said. “But I would hate to see that happen. I was there, and I can tell you that the people who started this weren’t there to watch the surfing competition. The final events were going on, and those interested in surfing were watching that.”

Smaller Melee

In 1983, a bikini contest that was an offshoot of the OP Pro Surfing competition triggered a much smaller melee at the pier. That disturbance broke out when spectators tried to pull down the bikinis of some of the contestants. Police moved in and closed down the beach. There were six arrests but no injuries and no clashes between the crowd and officers.

The organizer of the world surfing tour said Sunday’s incident clouded the future of the event in Southern California.

“It’s more than disappointing. It’s terribly depressing,” said Ian Cairns, executive director of the Assn. of Surfing Professionals, which governs the world tour. “It’s going to make everyone take a long, hard look at what we’re doing.”

Cairns said he did not want the tour to be associated with an area that has demonstrated a potential for such dangerous disruptions.

“Maybe L.A. can’t handle it,” he said.

The nine people arrested were booked for investigation of charges that included resisting arrest and assault with a deadly weapon, police said. There was no immediate estimate of damage.

Officers said they did not know what happened to the half-nude women.

Times staff writers Sarah Smith, Nancy Wride and Kristina Lindgren contributed to this story.