Authorities Break Up Riot at Job Training Facility

More than 30 law enforcement officers, clad in helmets and armed with batons, broke up what was termed “a small-scale riot” Monday night at the Job Corps Training Center dormitory in Imperial Beach.

A team of San Diego police officers and county sheriff’s deputies arrested seven people--all participants in the federal training program--after a struggle to bring a crowd of about 50 job trainees under control, said Sgt. Glenn Revell, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department.

The riot, which left nine people hospitalized, apparently broke out because of the arrest of a Job Corps trainee after a disturbance on an Imperial Beach street earlier in the evening, said Sgt. John Maschka of the Sheriff Department’s Imperial Beach substation.

“A group of people from the Job Training Center were wandering the streets of Imperial Beach, causing trouble,” Maschka said. “They were just being kind of rowdy and boisterous.”

After deputies warned the group twice to calm down, they arrested one trainee about 9:20 p.m., Revell said. He was identified as Charles Edward Thomas Jr., 19.

Thomas had allegedly scuffled with the deputies, injuring one of them slightly, Revell said.

“Apparently, the group went back to the (Job Corps) center to try to incite the others into taking some form of retaliation against the police,” Maschka said.

That started a riot at the Iris Avenue center, Maschka said.

Officers from the San Diego Police Department, Sheriff’s Department and the U.S. Border Patrol converged on the scene around 10:15 p.m., accompanied by a canine unit and a helicopter team, Revell said.

“Upon arrival, the deputies heard screams and the sound of breaking glass coming from inside one dormitory,” Revell said.

They moved into the dormitory and found the trainees fighting among themselves, Revell said.

“They were fighting with each other,” Revell said. “They were not fighting the officers.”

Officers brought the situation under control around 11 p.m., Revell said.

The seven people arrested, all ages 18 to 25, were job trainees who lived at the center, Revell said.

About 500 to 600 young people live and study at the center, a residential education facility directed by the U.S. Department of Labor, Revell said.

No officers were injured while bringing the riot under control, Revell said.