Noisy San Pedro Party Ends With 14 Arrests : Gangs: A small get-together of two friends turns into a loud, rowdy gathering of 30 to 40 gang members and other youths.

Los Angeles police said Thursday that 14 people, six of them juveniles, were arrested at a San Pedro apartment building after a small party grew to a large, raucous gathering of drunken gang members and other youths.

The Wednesday night incident temporarily required the dispatch of all 14 Harbor Division officers on patrol that evening, police said.

Detective Robert Espinoza said the incident began quietly enough when a resident of the apartment building, in the 200 block of West 14th Street, invited a friend over for drinks early Wednesday evening. Soon, Espinoza said, the friend, a San Pedro gang member, invited others to the one-bedroom apartment, which is known to police as a gang hangout.

By 11 p.m., Espinoza said, the apartment was filled with young people, most of them gang members, and some of them as young as 15. “The party just grew and grew. There were 30 to 40 people there. Loud, boisterous and drinking,” Espinoza said.

When police were first called by neighbors to clear the party, several of the youths began breaking windows in the apartment and daring officers to “come and get them,” Espinoza said.

An additional 12 officers arrived, but police were still unable to empty the apartment until they fired a canister of Mace into the unit through one of its broken windows, Espinoza said. “That’s when they gave up,” he said.

As the youths fled the apartment, one of the gang’s leaders was among the first to be arrested after he allegedly took a swing at police and bit one officer on the hand. The 17-year-old was arrested on suspicion of assault on a peace officer, Espinoza said.

In all, he added, 30 people were brought back to the Harbor Division station for questioning. Fourteen of them were arrested on charges ranging from violation of probation to assault.

“It was quite a scene,” Espinoza said.