Fight breaks out at party in Boyd

Virginia Beach police responded to a call made by VWC security to break-up a fight in the Boyd dining center that erupted between two individuals from an outside group that had rented the space on the evening of Saturday Feb. 19.

"It was one of those things that went bad," said Leo Therrien, Director of VWC Security.

No VWC students were directly involved, but there were eye witness accounts of the aftermath of the incident. Sophomores Andrew Craft and Colleen Peterson were walking through Batten and J-lot around 12:30 a.m., when they saw people running from the building.

"We saw a few hundred people running from Boyd Dining Center. A few of them were running with chairs," Craft said. "About 8 or 9 police cars came with an ambulance, just as a precaution. Afterwards, the parking lot was full of beer cans and broken glass….We also talked to a good Samaritan who tried to help breakup the fight. He had a 3-4 inch gash on the back of his head from where he was hit on the back of his head."

Inside Boyd, Craft and Peterson saw salt everywhere, three broken chairs and a broken table dripping with blood.

"I helped Security clean up, bringing [in] chairs from the Batten parking lot,” said Peterson.

During the private party, two young men started arguing. It soon broke out into a fight.

"We were scared," said Lt. Manny White, VWC Security. "From the start, it was just too large a crowd for all of us to handle, so we put Virginia Beach Police Department on standby as a precaution. We're only human, and I think we did all we could."

The Virginia Beach Police arrived as things calmed down.

"When we got [to VWC], people were already leaving the scene, so all we could do was make sure that everyone left safely," said Sgt. J. Bertini, VBPD.

In the end, three chairs and a table were broken. The off campus group will pay for the damage.