Spring break party riot near UC Santa Barbara spurs calls for change

SANTA BARBARA--Student leaders at UC Santa Barbara say the out-of-control spring break party that resulted in dozens of people getting injured overnight Saturday during a confrontation with authorities was a “wake up call” for change.

In a statement issued after the “Deltopia” party in Isla Vista devolved into a riot in which at least 100 people were arrested, student association President Jonathan Abboud and Vice President Kyley Scarlet said locals -- many of them UC Santa Barbara students -- had no one to blame but themselves.

“It is time to stop the habit of pushing the blame onto figurative and literal out of towners and take ownership of Isla Vista’s future,” the leaders said in their message to the student body.

They continued: “We cannot allow this culture, that we perpetuate, to continue. The ‘wild party’ stereotype and image exists because we, the students, allow it to exist. The riot last night happened, because we encourage an image of IV that is not healthy.”

Isla Vista is only about half of a square mile but houses 23,000 residents. On weekends, the population can swell to 40,000, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department.

An estimated 15,000 people attended the event, which skidded into violence after 9:30 p.m., when sheriff’s deputies were breaking up a fight in the 6700 block of Del Playa Drive and trying to make an arrest. That’s when a deputy was hit in the head with a backpack full of big liquor bottles, sheriff’s spokeswoman Kelly Hoover said.

The deputy’s head injury required 20 stitches, Hoover said.

As fellow deputies parted and ran through the crowd to get to the injured deputy, partygoers started throwing rocks, bricks and bottles, Hoover said.

An unlawful assembly was soon declared, authorities said. During the melee, street signs were ripped down, small fires were set and sheriff’s department vehicles were damaged, authorities said.

At least five deputies were injured, including one who was hit in the face with a brick.

Authorities said they used tear gas, pepper spray, flash-bang grenades and foam projectiles to control the crowd.

After several hours, authorities said, officers were able to disperse the crowd and restore order.

“The community is still trying to come to grips that people were throwing objects at our law enforcement who are there to protect them,” Hoover said. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”

The violent turn also drew the ire of UCSB officials, who issued their own statement on Sunday calling the riot “outrageous and extremely dangerous.”

“Any of our students found to have violated the law or university policies are subject to university sanctions,” UCSB said.

Though at least 100 people were arrested, authorities on Monday said more could still happen after footage from nearby surveillance cameras is reviewed.

Isla Vista is no stranger to violence and crime, but historically, locals have pointed their fingers at out-of-towners who flow into the tightly packed beach area for the party scene.

That, some students said, would have to change in the wake of Saturday’s events.

“We live here, we go to school here, we’re a great academic school and we do a lot of good things,” said Casey Hayes, 18, a freshman from Huntington Beach. “When things like this happen, it takes away from that and puts a bad light on the school.”

In their statement to the student body, Abboud and Scarlet said it would require a sea change in how Isla Vista residents view their role in protecting the image of their neighborhood, and the university.

“This riot was our wake up call. We need to band together and extinguish the party image,” they said. “Let’s stop protecting it using the excuse that the out of towners cause the problems in IV. Let’s take responsibility for this, that is the only way we can we fix IV.”

kate.mather@latimes.com

joe.serna@latimes.com