Rowdy Lakers Celebration Ends With Arrests, Looting

LOS ANGELES, CA — An impromptu celebration of the Lakers championship victory Sunday night outside the Staples Center led to 70 arrests as some in the rowdy crowd turned to vandalization and looting.

Thousands flocked to the area to celebrate the team's 17th championship, and 67 people were arrested, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Vandals targeted an MTA bus and looted a Starbucks. Officers in riot gear lined up to control the crowd were shown in videos from the scene firing non- lethal rounds at celebrants who threw fireworks, rocks and bottles at police after the assembly was declared unlawful. Video also showed people in the crowd trying to damage police vehicles by kicking and throwing objects at them. One officer was injured in the melee.

Before the scene began to turn ugly, people were seen dancing on Chick Hearn Court and Figueroa Street and setting off firecrackers. Cars were also seen doing donuts on the streets. Such celebrations and have become something of a tradition following Lakers championships. It's not unusual for the celebrations to devolve into scenes of vandalization as well.

Video on ABC7 just after 11 p.m. Sunday showed a police bus filled with fans apparently arrested by Los Angeles police officers around Staples Center during a celebration, and others handcuffed and lined up on a sidewalk.

Also after 11 p.m., a photo posted on Twitter showed several Lakers fans standing atop an orange MTA bus spray-painted with graffiti. Another picture amid reports of looting showed a Starbucks that had been looted and painted with graffiti.

At around 10 p.m., video showed paramedics loading a person into a Los Angeles Fire Department ambulance at Figueroa and 11th streets.

At the request of the LAPD, the California Highway Patrol issued a SigAlert and blocked the northbound Pico Boulevard and Ninth Street off-ramps from the Harbor (110) Freeway, as well as the Pico Boulevard off-ramp from the eastbound Santa Monica (10) Freeway. Those ramps were reopened at 1:08 a.m., according to CHP Officer Patrick Kimball.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.