Cops report mayhem on party boat

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, May 3, 2005 | by ,

OAKLAND -- It definitely was not the "Love Boat."

Police said Monday that when they responded to a

9-1-1 call from frantic crew members aboard a Blue and Gold ferry making an emergency docking at Jack London Square shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday, they found people fighting on both decks and some so drunk they couldn't even stand up.

The rowdiness had started during a fraternity-sponsored cruise that began in San Francisco.

Six officers originally responded to the call but soon realized that with about 650 people on board for a party sponsored by Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity of the University of California, Berkeley, they needed additional help.

That brought about 75 officers -- many of whom were working mandatory overtime to deal with reckless driving "sideshows" in other parts of the city -- to the docking area at Clay and Water streets.

Sgt. Sean Whent said officers saw "very rowdy behavior," including people fighting on both decks and some party-goers so drunk "they were almost falling over."

Whent said the boat "was loaded to the gills, like sardines." He said there were a few security guards on board, "but not enough."

An e-mail request for an interview, sent late Monday to a Kappa Alpha Psi contact listed on UC Berkeley's Office of Student Life Web site, was not returned. Neither was a voice-mail message left after hours Monday at the national fraternity headquarters in Philadelphia.

A UC Berkeley spokeswoman said officials hadfew details on the incident and were awaiting further information from police.

"We understand that members of a Berkeley fraternity were aboard the boat, but beyond that, we don't have any information from the police," spokeswoman Marie Felde said. "When we know more, we'll be in a better position to know what the next steps are.

"We've got to get the facts together," Felde said. "That's the next step."

Whent said officers broke up the fights, made everyone on board get off and then searched the ship looking for injured people or those trying to hide. He said all of the fighting involved men.

He said it took about a half-hour to clear the ferry.

One 19-year-old Fresno man, who attends Fresno State University and admitted he had been drinking, was arrested for battery on a police officer and resisting arrest. Other people were arrested for public drunkenness.

After awhile, the ferry captain allowed the more than 300 women attending the party as well as about 60 members of the sponsoring fraternity back on to return to San Francisco, Whent said. The other party-goers had to find their own way home.