Unruly Crowd In Newtown Leads To Arrests

A crowd of about 100 people spilling onto Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way overnight Sunday turned unruly resulting in several arrests by Sarasota Police. 

Police attempted to control the crowd at 3 a.m. in the 1900 block of MLK Way in Sarasota's Newtown where people were in the street and officers attempted to get them back onto the sidewalk, according to Sarasota Police. 

Officers observed two men urinating in full view of them and the public, and when an officer attempted to talk to one of the suspects, Jaymes Smith, Smith attempted to run away into the crowd, but the officer caught up with Smith and restrained the man, according to police.

At that time, the crowd surrounded the officer when another man, Jarred Harington, grabbed Smith in a bear hug to prevent the officer from handcuffing Smith, according to police. 

A third man, Desmond Smith, grabbed the officer from behind to separate the officer from Jaymes Smith, then another man Devotae Williams tried to get in between Jaymes Smith and the officer and punched the officer, according to police. 

Another officer pulled Harington off of Jaymes Smith and pushed Harington away from the other officer attempting the arrest, according to police. 

Harrington then forcefully pushed that officer with both hands, prompting the crowd to close in on that officer when he attempted to arrest Harrington, according to police.

In his report, the officer, whom Sarasota Police have not identified either of the officers involved, wrote that he "swung my right hand while holding my flashlight to clear the danger in front of me and the tip of the light struck the defendant (Harrington) on the bridge of his nose."

Harrington is charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence and resisting arrest without violence, according to police. Harrington was treated at Sarasota Memorial Hospital before being transported to Sarasota County Jail. 

Desmond Smith and Williams are both charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, according to police. Desmond Smith faces an additional charge for violating probation for a cocaine sale, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff's inmate charge report. Jaymes Smith was charged for urinating in public and resisting arrest without violence, according to police.