This still image from a nine-second video shot Saturday night on M Street shows a young man with reflective stripes on his sleeves stomping on the hood of a woman’s car. Courtesy photo

Early alcohol consumption, numerous house parties and throngs of out-of-town visitors made Picnic Day no picnic for Davis police officers, including two who landed in the hospital after being attacked by what was described as a hostile Russell Boulevard crowd.

Also on Saturday, police arrested a man who allegedly brandished a gun in downtown Davis, and a crowd of people were caught on video surrounding and vandalizing a woman’s car as she tried to drive down an East Davis street.

Authorities also are investigating a reported shooting between two vehicles near the UC Davis campus.

“There were some differences from the previous two years,” Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel said Tuesday. “The alcohol consumption started very early again, and we were dealing with people getting intoxicated pretty early in the morning.”

Officers also encountered multiple large parties, some of which drew as many as 1,000 people and clogged surrounding streets with traffic, requiring as many as 40 officers to break up the crowds.

Arrests for public intoxication and other low-level offenses were down from last year, but not because of a lack of activity, according to Pytel.

“There were many, many people that probably should have been arrested, but we didn’t have the time or resources to do it,” the chief said. “We weren’t willing to spread ourselves too thin with people being tied up.”

Pytel said he plans to meet soon with UCD police officials “to discuss some of the issues on campus and in the city,” including the party scene along Russell Boulevard and surrounding streets that created many of Saturday’s enforcement problems.

He did note that UCD students and local residents were cooperative with officers for the most part.

“It was a very different encounter with them compared to the people we were dealing with from outside of Davis,” Pytel said. “They were more, ‘I don’t care,’ screaming, shouting, just being a problem.”

UCD police, meanwhile, responded to about 20 incidents mostly involving alcohol-related offenses such as public intoxication, alcohol poisonings and open-container violations.

“It was a relatively calm Picnic Day on campus,” campus spokesman Andy Fell said.

Hostile crowd

Three people were arrested in connection with the Russell Boulevard attack, which occurred at about 3:30 p.m. on Russell near College Park and is believed to have been caught on video by multiple witnesses, whose footage is being sought for the ongoing investigation.

According to Lt. Paul Doroshov, three officers assigned to Picnic Day enforcement were traveling in an unmarked police vehicle when they encountered a large group of people blocking traffic in the roadway. He said one officer was in uniform, while the other two were in street clothes with their badges and police weapons displayed.

“At the time, Russell Blvd was nearly gridlocked due to Picnic Day-related traffic and many large parties occurring in the area,” Doroshov said. “Due to the obvious safety hazards the group presented, the officers pulled near the group to take action.”

According to Doroshov, a “large hostile group” surrounded the vehicle and yelled threats at the officers before they could act. Two officers reported being attacked and taken to the ground as they exited the vehicle and began to identify themselves.

“While on the ground, the officers were kicked, punched in the head, and one officer was struck with a bottle on the side of his head. As the officers were being assaulted they could see people in the crowd filming the attack with their cell phones,” Doroshov said.

The officers were able to fight back and called for backup, but two ended up requiring treatment in the Sutter Davis Hospital emergency room, Doroshov said. One suffered injuries to his eye and face, while the other was treated for a bleeding head wound caused by the bottle strike.

Police arrested three suspects, including Alexander Reide Craver, 22, and Elijah James Williams, 19, both of West Sacramento, on suspicion of aggravated battery, assault on a peace officer, obstruction of a peace officer and assault with a deadly weapon.

A third man, 21-year-old Antwoine Rashadek Perry of Elk Grove, faces charges of aggravated battery and obstruction of a peace officer. All three had posted bail as of Monday afternoon.

A different story

At least one witness, however, had a different perspective of the incident.

Isabel Lynch of Sacramento said she does not know the suspects but met them that day as they left a nearby party where some attendees were asked to leave. They were among a group of people preparing to cross the street when an unmarked van pulled up to them.

One occupant “started yelling out of the window, “Get the f— out of the road,” said Lynch, adding that she did not recognize the men as officers, nor did they immediately identify themselves.

She said Perry replied, “What are you talking about?” and exchanged profanity with the man they later found out to be an officer. Perry then turned to walk away, and the officer “opens his door and started swinging at Antwoine.”

Lynch said she also saw an officer punch a woman and take her to the ground, and one who chased after Williams twisted the suspect’s arm behind him and kneel on his back although it appeared he was no longer resisting.

“They could have handled the situation differently,” she added. “We had no intention of starting anything — we were just trying to move along. If anyone was hostile, it was the officers in the van.”

Pytel disagreed, saying investigators have obtained “clear video evidence” corroborating the officers’ version of events, starting with one suspect lifting his shirt to motion that he had a gun.

“The officer got out to try to grab him and immediately got hit in the head,” then beaten further on the ground, Pytel said. Other officers who tried to help him also were assaulted.

“There is screaming in the crowd that definitely indicates they knew they were the police,” Pytel said. The suspect who simulated having a gun was arrested several blocks away had no weapon but did have ammunition, he added.

Davis police are asking anyone with additional cell phone video or information regarding this incident to contact the agency’s investigations unit at 530-747-5400.

Car vandalized

Meanwhile, police are hoping video taken during an act of vandalism will identify the suspects who stomped on and dented a woman’s car, causing more than $7,000 in damage.

The 21-year-old victim, who asked to remain anonymous out of concern for her safety, told The Enterprise she had just left work Saturday night and was driving on M Street when she encountered a large crowd in the street, blocking several cars from passing through.

“I started honking for them to move, but none of them would,” the woman said. Suddenly, about 20 to 30 people surrounded her Honda Civic and started rocking it back and forth, pounding on the windows and cursing.

Some also kicked the car’s side panels and jumped on the hood and roof. Video from social media posts of the incident show the suspects shouting “f— your car” and other expletives as the crowd cheers them on.

“It was really scary,” said the woman, who was not physically injured. “I’m hoping some of them get caught and go to jail, because that’s not acceptable behavior at all. (Picnic Day) is not supposed to be a violent event.”

Crowd controls

Pytel said the M Street crowd is believed to have drifted east from a fraternity party on Adams Street, which police began receiving complaints about just as they were clearing the officer-attack scene on Russell Boulevard.

Officers also responded to multiple large parties at First and A streets, University Avenue, Anderson Road, Radcliffe Drive and Sycamore Lane. A keg crawl along Russell Boulevard and neighboring streets brought heightened pedestrian activity to the area, where officers noted “escalating behavior” by late morning, according to Pytel.

Some party hosts “were starting to get uncomfortable with some of the people who were showing up,” Pytel said. Following the officer assaults, the agency decided to “go deep” with its party enforcement, sending as many as 20 officers to control large, rowdy gatherings.

After informing them of the attack, “at that point, nearly everyone along Russell Boulevard said they understood and a lot of the partying stopped,” Pytel said. “The students were really cooperative and helped us out at that point.”

It took about 40 officers to manage the crowds and traffic at the Adams Street party, some of which moved east to the University Mall shopping center afterward before heading toward M Street, Pytel said. Some officers staged in the mall area for a period after receiving reports of several small fights and skirmishes.

Later that night, police responded to a large party on the west end of Olive Drive that also drew about 1,000 people, clogging Olive Drive and surrounding streets so badly with traffic that California Highway Patrol officers were brought in to shut down the Interstate 80 offramps at Richards Boulevard, Pytel said.

At about the same time, police received a report of a man brandishing a gun at people at Second and A streets. Jessie Alexander Vasquez, 23, of Sacramento, was arrested on suspicion of carrying a loaded firearm while walking on Second Street, the gun reportedly sticking out of his pocket.

Authorities also are investigating a reported shooting between two vehicles Saturday evening at the southbound Highway 113 offramp.

David Delaini, Davis’ assistant police chief, said a witness reported seeing someone in the back seat of a black sedan shoot at a white Infiniti SUV at about 6:20 p.m. at Hutchison Drive, close to UCD’s West Village neighborhood.

Delaini said the shooting apparently damaged the Infiniti, but both vehicles fled the scene and there were no reports of any injuries. Officers returned to the scene Monday night and collected bullet fragments from the roadway.

Despite some initial confusion regarding whether the incident landed in Davis, UCD or the CHP’s jurisdiction, campus officials said the investigation has been taken over by UCD.

Anyone with information about that incident is urged to contact the UCD Police Department at 530-754-COPS (2677).

— Reach Lauren Keene at [email protected] or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene