PUT-IN-BAY, Ohio — Josh Silas is a full-time musician who was working in Put-in-Bay Saturday night when multiple SWAT teams responded to calls of unruly crowds and fights.
"We went to walk down the side road and there was a SWAT officer there standing in full riot gear," Silas said.
Rachel McHale was also on the island Saturday night. She described a scene in which teams of SWAT officers were near the ferry dock.
"Just walking up to the ferry were SWAT teams," she said.
McHale said you couldn't get through the crowds on the roads.
"I don't even think golf carts were faster, because it was start-stop traffic," she said.
WTOL 11 also spoke with people returning Monday from trips to the island, who said the fights Saturday didn't stop them from visiting. They also aren't sure how else to stop future fights.
"I don't know. I mean, what else can you do?" Jamie Santa Maria asked. "You can't stop people from vacationing or coming to an island. As long as you have the proper help, I don't know what else you can do."
WTOL also spoke with visitors who know the island has a reputation for being a party spot, but said that shouldn't scare families away.
"You just need to know, what areas of the island to go to for what," Jodi Spinelli said. "Really, it's perfectly safe for families and kids to come up. Stay off the main drag, the main strip, away from the bars, especially on Friday and Saturday nights, the middle of the night."
SWAT team members from three counties were deployed to Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island on Saturday evening after about 19,000 people converged on the village’s downtown area.
Ottawa County Sheriff Stephen Levorchick says their office was contacted by Put-in-Bay Police Chief James Kimble around 7 p.m. to help with the mass of people who were becoming unruly.
Levorchick said while deputies were en route to the island, security personnel for the Jet Express ferry service notified police they were about to lose control of the dock.
At that point, the Ottawa County sheriff decided to deploy the SWAT team.
Sandusky County and Erie County were also contacted about sending their SWAT teams. About 30 SWAT members between the three counties responded.
Levorchick said most of the issues police responded to involved fights, with most of the problems occurring on Delaware Ave. in downtown Put-in-Bay.
Levorchick said the first SWAT unit that arrived on the island was able to get the scene under control.
Overall, 6-10 fights were broken up by SWAT members.
Two people were arrested. Both arrests were unrelated to the fights. One involved a domestic situation and another a disorderly conduct and resisting arrest on the ferry, according to Levorchick.