Routine police stop in Long Beach turns into melee

Long Beach City police needed help from Nassau officers to quell an unexpected confrontation with a large group that resulted in five arrests and minor injuries to at least two officers, police said Wednesday.

"It was a melee. It was incredible," said Deputy Insp. Bruce Meyer, a spokesman for the Long Beach police. "It was a little thing with a couple of people that escalated into a large thing."

The altercation began Monday evening with a somewhat routine police inquiry. Three plainclothes officers from the Long Beach Police Street Crimes Unit approached three men walking on East Pine Street in the North Park area at about 6 p.m., Meyer said. One of the men had a bandanna covering his face, Meyer said.

"It warranted an interview," Meyer said. The officers identified themselves as police, and the three men immediately fled in different directions, he said.

One of them went into a home on East Pine Street, but came out after police knocked on the door, Meyers said. The two others who had fled, returned to that location soon afterward, Meyer said.

But a short time later, a crowd of more than 100 people gathered near the residence, assaulting officers, Meyer said,

"Fights are breaking out, with cursing and punching and kicking at the cops," Meyer said.

The full tour of 13 on-duty Long Beach officers responded to the scene, but that was not enough, Meyer said. Another 20 or so Nassau officers were called in, he said.

Five Long Beach residents - Bruce Rodgers, 19, Derrick Patten, 18, Devante Patten, 16, Laquann Hodge, 21, and Charles Evan, 39 - were arrested on charges of first-degree riot, obstruction of governmental administration and resisting arrest.