Shomik Mukherjee
News Editor
Two large fights broke out Saturday night in Isla Vista, leaving two people injured, one of them a University of California, Santa Barbara Police Department (UCPD) officer.
Law enforcement was first alerted to a “large altercation” on the 6700 block of Del Playa Drive at around 11:00 p.m. on Saturday. The responding officers included Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office deputies and UCPD officers, Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Kelly Hoover told The Bottom Line.
The fight had spilled out onto the street following a “large party,” Hoover said. One person, a Santa Barbara City College student, received a moderate head injury in the incident and was transported to the hospital. After authorities intervened, the crowd dispersed and began moving eastbound on Del Playa, Hoover said.
Less than an hour later, deputies on the street observed another group altercation occurring at the intersection of Del Playa and Camino Del Sur. Several people were fleeing the area.
Law enforcement responded to the area and began trying to detain those fleeing the scene of the fight. A UCPD officer was injured during a struggle with a subject who was resisting arrest, Hoover said.
The suspect fled the area and is still at large. The officer was sent to the hospital to be treated for moderate injuries. Extra officers from other agencies were called in to control the crowd, which Hoover said had grown to several hundred people by the end of the incident.
Authorities are continuing to investigate the incident, Hoover said.