UPDATE: VIDEO ADDED AFTER THE BREAK
Police Harbor Units from New Rochelle, Mamaroneck and New York City, as well as New Rochelle police and the Westchester County Police Department helicopter responded Saturday to a Mayday call from the Klondike IX shortly before midnight as the boat was in the area of the Eastchester Bay near the Whitestone Bridge. The Captain of the vessel put out an emergency call based on reports of a large altercation on board. Dozens of police officers from all over New Rochelle assembled at a dock near Glen Island to receive the boat.
As the boat approached, tensions were high as New Rochelle police officers lined up outside the fenced off dock area to prevent anyone from getting in or out. Several New Rochelle police officers boarded the boat. Klondike IX crew members had already subdued and handcuffed two men who were led off the boat by New Rochelle police.
New Rochelle Police Captain Joseph Schaller told Talk of the Sound police were still confirming details.
Schaller said police had a report of 150 people on board and a large altercation. There were two arrests and at least three other people were taken away by police. One man was taken by ambulance to Sound Shore Medical Center. Witnesses leaving the boat said there were “girls fighting” on the boat. One person kicked in a cabin door.
Who did what to whom was still being sorted out by police.
There was one arrest for assault and another for criminal mischief.
“There had to be some sort of weapon,” said Schaller, when asked about possible weapons charges. “We had one fellow with a slight laceration on the arm.”
Schaller said the Mamaroneck Harbor Unit and the New Rochelle Harbor Unit escorted the Klondike IX to the dock.
UPDATE: A call to New Rochelle police this morning provided no additional information; told to expect more details on Tuesday.
UPDATE: Ned Rauch of the Journal News for a bit more information today; that one man arrested is 25 years old, from the Bronx and the other is 26 years old, from Mount Vernon. New Rochelle police Lt. William Odell said one was “charged with two counts of third-degree assault while the other was charged with one count of second-degree assault and third-degree criminal mischief. He did not say which man faces which charges.”
UPDATE: Passenger Comments on Talk of the SOund YouTube Video,
I was on that boat and truth is that there was no stabbing. The man accused of stabbing was a victim. He was jumped by like 4 guys. That guy must have gotten cut on the boat swinging his fist. The true bad guy isn’t even on this vid. He punched 2 woman. The man accused of the stabbing was defending his woman as she was being assaulted by a 6 foot man.
Any idea what this massive
Any idea what this massive response to nothing cost us?
Why don’t we have a clawback provision to recoup monies spent on stuff like this?
It was not “nothing” and not free!
The third shift was held over, no one was allowed to leave while this event took place. It depends how much OT was authorized but I doubt there is precedent for trying to get the money back.
Having listened on the scanner, it is clear that the Klondike captain sent out a very frightening message — that he had 150 people on board and a “large altercation” and “a stabbing”. It sounded very much like a drunken riot.
As it turned out, there were probably no more than 10 people involved, maybe less and most of the people on the boat were families and were not drunk. They were nearly all hispanic families, most who spoke little or no English and were on board for a more of a picnic/outing than a drunken booze cruise.
That said, the NRPD did a highly effective job at controlling the scene — they had officers at the gate, the sent a team of officers on board who circulated about the ship, they escorted the two prisoners off the ship as well as the injured man, they took away the prisoners, witnesses/victims and the injured man and then let people off in small groups. Once they got the people off the board they shooed them off to their vehicles and instructed them to leave. Within about 20-30 minutes the boat was empty and the parking lot clear of vehicles.
In retrospect, you can say this was was a response to “nothing” but EyeonNewRoc heard the initial MayDay call on the scanner and Talk of the Sound monitored the scanner the entire time. It was called in by the Klondikeas a very serious situation and was treated as such by NRPD. They even had a Captain on-scene managing the situation. In part, the situation was not as bad as reported but the NRPD also made sure the situation was controlled from the boat touched the dock.
All-in-all, they did a very good job in a very dicey situation. I have never seen that sort of police response and I was impressed. I hope that means something since I throw around compliments like manhole covers 🙂
Hudson Park
Come on Mr. Cox hudson park scandal bigger than this stuff.Talk about a may day the residents are getting screwed on the tiki scandal?????