Legal consequences of the Huntington Beach rioting this weekend at the U.S. Open of Surfing are starting to appear as one man was arraigned and one was placed on leave from his job Tuesday.
Seven people were reportedly arrested Sunday after a huge crowd rampaged through downtown Huntington Beach, flipping portable toilets, smashing shop windows, urinating in the streets, and fist fighting.
Police fired pepper-spray pellets and other nonlethal projectiles at the rioters and finally got the mob under control by nightfall.
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One of those arrested, 19-year-old Chase Scott Christman, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to felony vandalism, misdemeanor inciting a riot, and misdemeanor refusing to disperse charges
in connection to Sunday's pandemonium, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Michael John Lytle, 30, a Fullerton, Calif., firefighter, was also taken in on suspicion of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He was placed on administrative leave Tuesday pending the outcome of the charges.
"This is not something that I would have expected from this individual,"
Fullerton Fire Chief Wolfgang Knabe told KTLA.com. "Traditionally we're held in pretty high esteem in the community and in any organization when something like his happens, it's not a good thing."
Five others were detained on various disorderly conduct and resisting arrest charges, according to the Times.
Angry Huntington Beach residents spoke out Tuesday at a city council meeting and called for more police presence during the annual surfing competition.
"They think they can do whatever they want so finally I want the city to start responding to the needs of the people that live in downtown, not just the vendors, bars, and restaurants that seem to have so much influence over this city council," one resident said on a KTLA video. "That means more resources, more planning, and more common sense when it comes to events like the U.S. Open."
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