CRYSTAL, Minnesota — Crystal Police say they will close down Becker Park if needed and turn away teens who arrive by rideshare if they follow through with a planned "take-over" event over the 4th of July weekend. A similar event last weekend led to several arrests.
Crystal Police Chief Brian Hubbard explains more about the nationwide trend in this Q & A with KARE 11 News.
KARE 11: What is a "takeover event?"
Crystal Deputy Chief Brian Hubbard: It's some type of a social media blast that's put together for, "Hey, gather up at this spot," and it's bringing hundreds of people together into typically a park area.
KARE 11: So what happened here then last Sunday?
Hubbard: Last Sunday mid-afternoon within an hour's time we had about 300 juveniles show up, almost all by rideshare apps and they just ended up here in the park.
KARE 11: And did it turn into something dangerous?
Hubbard: The conduct was escalating. The conduct was getting more brazen, and then we started having fights break out amongst the different people in the park. At that point we determined this assembly has turned into we don't know what's going to happen next and we need to dissipate this group. Last Sunday we arrested 6 individuals for disorderly conduct.
Hubbard says the department is preparing for a social media-fueled "takeover event" being planned again at Becker Park sometime over the 4th of July weekend.
The most infamous example of the nationwide trend happened last year in Manhattan's Union Square -- when a PlayStation 5 giveaway planned by influencer Kai Cenat turned into a riot when thousands of people showed up.
KARE 11: You mentioned this is kind of a national trend. Is it happening at other cities locally as well in the metro?
Hubbard: We know of at least six other communities around the metro, probably more, but we know of six where they've had similar events in the last couple months.
KARE 11: Does it seem like these things just have the potential for a lot of things to go wrong?
Hubbard: Yes, I mean last weekend there was a lot of energy. Our concern is, again to the patrons who are here, that is a scary situation for families that enjoy this park... families are not going to want to be around for all the craziness that comes from those who are not here to enjoy the park. And as those groups tend to escalate, our concern is then what does that turn into something more severe? Do we have assaults, is there potential for guns?
KARE 11: So what are police planning to do this weekend?
Hubbard: Our plan for this park is we're going to stop that mass gathering before it starts. So if we start to see large groups of people arriving by rideshare, we will take the action of closing the park at that point and moving everybody out of this space before they get to that large mass.
KARE 11: What do you want parents to know or to do about this sort of thing?
Hubbard: As a parent myself, it's concerning that there would be that many unsupervised juveniles in a space like this where there isn't going to be a lot of good that comes from it.
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