An attempt by law enforcement to break up a loud party in Cheney Saturday night turned into a confrontational and potentially dangerous situation, resulting in the arrests of four Eastern Washington University students, including a member of the Eagles football team.
According to Cheney police, Officer TJ Ewen and Sgt. Chad Estep responded to complaints of a loud party at a house on the 1000 block of Fourth Street. The tenants, Stephanie M. Romero and Felina L. Razey, both 19, had been previously warned regarding Cheney’s noise ordinance, and were cited for having a loud party.
As the party broke up, a large number of individuals exited the residence and gathered on the lawn and in the street. Several shoving matches occurred and at one point a fight broke out.
Estep engaged his vehicle’s lights and public address system in an attempt to stop the fight and get the party goers to disperse, which some did. Many did not, however, and moments later Ewen was engaged in breaking up another fight when a male combatant turned and assaulted him, bringing Estep into the altercation to help Ewen take the combatant to the ground.
At this point, the already hostile crowd started screaming and yelling and advanced on the two officers, leading Estep to call for backup. Another Cheney officer arrived on scene, along with two Eastern Washington University Police officers, who kept the angry crowd back while an arrest was made.
Eventually, two Spokane County Sheriff’s Office units also responded to calls for backup, including K9 “Deacon” and his handler, Dep. Tyler Kullman, SCSO public information officer Dep. Mark Gregory said. Also responding were units from the Washington State Patrol.
“Over the next several minutes they were successfully able to disperse the crowd,” Cheney Police Department Cmdr. Rick Campbell said.
Besides Romero and Razey, Cheney officers arrested Jacob A. Harmon, 23, for alleged disorderly conduct and obstructing a law enforcement officer and Shaquille B. Hill, 21, for alleged obstructing a law enforcement officer. Both were cited and released.
Hill is a wide receiver on the EWU football team. He was not the only Eagle player involved in incidents Saturday night, according to police, with one other arrest taking place, that of freshman defensive lineman Patiole Pesefea, 19, who was charged with alleged second-degree assault in an incident on the 100 block of South Cheney-Spangle Road.
“We are aware of both situations and are handling them accordingly based on our student-athlete code of conduct,” EWU Athletics Director Bill Chaves said in a prepared email statement.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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