200 Riot at Simi Valley Burger King Parking Lot

A crowd of more than 200 rioted outside a Simi Valley fast-food restaurant early Saturday, resulting in one arrest and minor injuries to a police officer, Simi Valley police said.

“We really haven’t had anything quite like this,” Lt. Jon Ainsworth said of the melee that began shortly before 1 a.m. outside a Burger King in the 2900 block of Cochran Street.

Policeman Attacked by Crowd

Officer David Watts, who was among the first to arrive at the parking lot, was surrounded by a crowd and attacked, the lieutenant said. Watts was treated at a local hospital for minor bruises on his neck and jaw.

The rioters had set fire to a car or a large trash bin--it was unclear which--and damaged several cars, Ainsworth said.

Officers who arrived during the fracas reported that they saw scores of youths fighting. Some were knocked down by cars, slashed with broken bottles and pelted with rocks, Ainsworth said. It took eight officers and a police dog about 15 minutes to end the brawl and disperse the crowd, he said.

A 17-year-old boy from Simi Valley was arrested on suspicion of rioting and interfering with police, Ainsworth said. He was released to his parents, he said.

Peace the Priority

Officers did not make additional arrests because they were concerned mostly with restoring the peace and dispersing the crowd, he said.

Police believed some rioters were hurt, including some who were bitten by Atlas, the police German shepherd, Ainsworth said. By late Saturday, he said, no hospitals had reported such injuries to police.

Burger King worker Doug Brewer, 17, said the restaurant had been closed for almost two hours when a fight broke out in the lot. “Then I saw a bunch of other people start to get into it, and it just turned into a riot,” he said. “All I saw was fists flying.”

Since the small shopping center on Cochran Street opened several months ago, the parking lot has become “a hangout for the mini-truck brigade,” Brewer said. “They all hang out there and play loud music and drink beer.”

Brewer had run out to protect his car, but he was too late to stop someone from stamping big, muddy footprints on the hood, he said. Most of the rioters he saw appeared to be teen-agers with “the clean-cut image,” he said.

Outsiders Suspected

Ainsworth said: “Reasonable indications are that some of the people were from outside of Simi and outside of Ventura County.”

Police had been told several days ago that a small group from Central California was throwing firecrackers in the parking lot, Ainsworth said. Some witnesses at Saturday’s riot made similar statements, he said.