The Berrien County Sheriff’s Department and Silver Beach County Park say they won’t tolerate misbehavior at the Beach–and will arrest anyone who starts or takes part in a disturbance.
A fight broke out between two beach goer’s Sunday night about 8 p.m., with a crowd gathering to watch. Deputies, assisted by St. Joseph City police officers broke it up and arrested two persons– one an adult and one a juvenile. The juvenile was later released to a parent.
When the crowd failed to disperse and continued to spoil the atmosphere at the beach, officers shut it down early, apparently to send the message that misbehavior won’t be tolerated at Silver Beach. The Beach opened as usual today (Monday).
Here is the full text of a statement from Undersheriff Greg Sanders:
At approximately 8 PM, a large number of young adults and juveniles arrived at the beach and began to cause a disturbance. This included two individuals that started to physically fight.
Deputies assigned to Silver Beach requested assistance for Saint Joseph Department of Public Safety and County patrol units. Additional units responded quickly to the scene.
One young adult and one juvenile were detained and issued citations for disturbing the peace. The juvenile was later released to a parent.
The young adults and juveniles continued to act disorderly and for the safety of the public, Silver Beach was closed early.
Silver Beach will re-open today.
We will continue to take a zero-tolerance approach to deal with anyone acting outside the laws or ordinances down at Silver Beach.
Please contact the Sheriff’s Office detective bureau at 269 983-7141, ext 7224 if you have any cell phone video to assist in identifying the individuals responsible for creating the disturbance.
