Tucson City Council working on plan to curb postgame street ruckus
Mar 17, 2015, 12:08 PM | Updated: 12:10 pm
PHOENIX — The Tucson City Council is determined to avoid confrontations between police and postseason college basketball fans, with plans for a law guiding crowd control.
A year ago during a disturbance after a University of Arizona basketball loss in the NCAA Tournament, a Tucson police officer was recorded knocking down a student who was simply walking near him.
The Arizona Wildcats have reached the tournament again, and play their first-round game Thursday.
Proposed ordinance 11250 for a “crowd management event” was pulled from the agenda for the council’s meeting
Tuesday for revisions.
Council members expressed concern about the proposal, written by the police
department’s legal advisers.
The proposal would have allowed police to restrict access to an area where at
least 100 people were gathered and made it a misdemeanor to wear masks or to
refuse to leave when ordered by police.
Tucson has had several postgame disturbances. Hundreds were involved in the 2014 fracas on University Boulevard, after the basketball team lost in the round of eight.
No charges were filed against the officer.
In 2001, vehicles were set on fire after a loss in the NCAA championship game.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
