5 juveniles cited in angry, belligerent library disturbance, Madison police say

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Several juveniles were cited Monday evening in connection with a north Madison disturbance during which participants were described in a police report as angry and belligerent, authorities say.

Madison police said four officers responded about 5 p.m. to a report of a group of loud juveniles refusing to leave the Madison Public Library Lakeview Branch.

When officers arrived, between 15-20 juveniles announced they didn’t have to leave, they didn’t have to listen to police, and that police couldn’t touch them, according to the report. The librarian later told police some in the group have caused issues several times over the past week inside the normally quiet branch.

.@madisonpolice say they were called to the @madisonlibrary Lakeview Branch yesterday after a group of 15-20 young people were being “loud and frenzied.” 5 were issued multiple citations. Police say one girl kicked an officer in the groin after he grabbed her arm. #news3now pic.twitter.com/tmjMNguj2F

— Rose Schmidt (@RoseSchmidtTV) March 12, 2019

Police said the officers spent 10 minutes trying to talk with the young people until trying to escort some out of the building. During the process, one girl kicked over a trash can, which sent refuse materials across the library floor. She then kicked a male officer in the groin who grabbed her arm.

Another juvenile kicked a chair, which hit and toppled a bookshelf, according to police. Throughout the disturbance, young people were yelling and swearing at the officers while several recorded everything on their cellphones. One young person displayed gang signs. Another took off his jacket and postured as if he wanted to fight one of the officers. The boy also knocked over a trash can, kicked over a chair and threw a half-filled bottle of juice across the library.

“The (crowd) outnumbered the police. They were loud and frenzied,” a detective wrote in his report. In another report, an officer wrote that they were met “with angry belligerence and outright refusal to comply with a lawful command.”

The North District Community Police Team was brought in to back up the original four officers who had been dispatched. In the end, five juveniles were cited on suspicion of infractions like disorderly conduct, trespass after notification and resisting. Officers explained what took place to the children’s parents as those cited were released to adults.

In a statement posted online Monday night by the Northside Planning Council, a north Madison community group, Executive Director Abha Thakkar said it was aware of “an escalated encounter” at the library.

“We recognize that regardless of the specifics of this incident, it falls within the broader context of the way communities of color are policed, with outcomes that are counter to our mission of fostering equity and improving the quality of life on the Northside,” Thakkar wrote.

Thakkar said the NPC is reaching out to the students and their families to offer support and resources “and to listen to them about what kind of response they would like to see.”

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