A popular, family-friendly park in Santa Clarita is in the news after violence broke out between some teenagers, resulting in two teens being taken to the hospital and another being arrested.
Residents in the area say crowds of young people generally start showing up to the fairly remote Pacific Crest Park, located at 29051 Garnet Canyon Drive, between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., with the spot apparently becoming a place for underage kids to drink and party.
During the day, the park, near Saugus, is a practice field for youth football, Coach Cecilio Valdivia explained, where different divisions play.
Families and their children pack the playgrounds while the walking paths bring out the joggers, but it’s at night that neighbors, like Derek Shirley, say the problems begin.
“They tell another group of 10 and they tell another group of 10 and suddenly it’s 100 people,” she said. “When it’s 100 people, unfortunately, they’re probably doing some drinking.”
Alcohol was likely a factor in the Aug. 2 incident, which prompted a 911 call from residents near the park at around 11 p.m., according to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.
Authorities said that some point during the gathering, a fight broke out, leading to a male juvenile being detained for smashing a bottle over someone else’s head.
That victim was taken to a hospital with injuries described as “non-life-threatening” by deputies. Another juvenile was transported with unspecified injuries.
Video obtained by KTLA shows deputies detaining the male juvenile at gunpoint and being placed into the back of a squad car near the entrance to an In-N-Out drive-thru. LASD did not explicitly state how or when he got there.
“It gets to the point where it’s out of control,” Shirley said. “You can’t be attacking people. It’s just ridiculous.”
That same night, just a few miles away, according to LASD, several adults were arrested for hosting a party where minors were drinking. Deputies noted that several of those same minors were spotted at Pacific Crest Park after those arrests.
Saugus resident Greg Springer, a father himself, said he’s not surprised by the incident because when that many kids get together unsupervised, there’s likely going to be issues.
“The parents got to keep a tight leash on their kids, get to know where they are, who they’re hanging out with, kind of the same old things,” he said.
In the meantime, LASD said they plan to enforce Santa Clarita’s curfew law prohibiting anyone under the age of 18 from being out between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. without an adult, especially around Pacific Crest Park.
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