UPDATED: Assault; Three Arrested on Saturday Night

An employee of New York Fried Chicken was assaulted on Saturday night, while attempting to remove people who weren’t purchasing food from his store. The victim reported that he was punched around the head and face by a group of people unknown to him.  

South Orange police, with the assistance of several neighboring police forces, dispersed a crowd of teens and young adults from downtown South Orange, eyewitnesses reported.

A village official reported three disorderly conduct arrests during the incident.

Two eyewitnesses told Patch the groups of young adults gathered around 8 p.m. along South Orange Avenue, roughly between Vose Avenue and Sloan Street. Eyewitnesses reported the number of young adults was in the hundreds, though this number has not been confirmed.

Likewise, stores and the South Orange Performing Arts Center reportedly closed and locked their doors around 9:30 p.m.  According to a village official, the crowd was dispersed by 10 p.m.

South Orange has seen similar situations in the past several years. Nearly a year ago, on a warm March evening, some 300-500 young people gathered in the village and were similarly dispersed by South Orange and other local police.

Similar gatherings have taken place on summer evenings in past years; the concert series was organized, in part, to draw members of the community to the village and to deter large groups from gathering.

In addition, enhanced police patrols have been in force on summer weekend evenings for the past two years.  Both the concerts and the increased police presence are expected to continue in 2011.

The most recent similar event. At that time, a large group of teens who gathered at Cameron Field on Saturday evening were dispersed by the South Orange Police Department with assistance from Orange, West Orange, Maplewood Police Departments and the Essex County Sheriff's Department.  Most of the teens left South Orange by way of South Orange Avenue, with some businesses reportedly closing early when they saw the large number of people in the streets.

Two years ago, besides word-of-mouth, social networking sites appear to draw people to South Orange. Facebook and Twitter have postings that suggest last night would  be a busy night in “South Orange Ville,” also known as “The Ville.” 

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.