Students give their account of Saturday night’s riot.

“Everybody was just about out of beer anyways, so the party was about to end in another hour.”

“Everyone could see the girl’s friend getting arrested from their front porches, so everyone saw her get pushed by the cop and she fell over-that’s when people got angry.”

“All the people and then music made it really loud, so no one knows what the girl said to the cop.”

-Kirk Price, junior justice studies major.

“I have respect for the cops in Akron because they are actually fighting crime, and I would trust them if I had to call for help. But I have no faith in the Kent cops, all they do is bully students.”

-Tim Zetts, senior business major at University of Akron.

“I don’t know what else the cops are supposed to do if they’re trying to disperse a crowd of that many people that are setting fires.”

“I’m not saying that the kids were victims because they were definitely doing stuff, but the police department is supposed to be there to protect us, and they weren’t.”

“I’ve lived here for 23 years and it seems like having college fest is a rite of passage for the spring. The cops break it up every year but this year was the biggest riot.”

-Craig Russell, Kent resident 417 college Ave.

“The cops know what they were here for-to pick on the kids.”

“The rest of Kent acts like the students are the plague of the city, but we’re not.”

“You could have gone outside to do anything-check your mailbox or just see what was going on, and you would have been arrested.”

-Tony Pervetich, senior computer information systems major.

“It was bad. The kids didn’t really do anything wrong; I was standing there the whole time watching it go down. The cops just started whaling on kids.”

-Mike Smith, junior marketing major.

“It was just drunken reactions from students.”

-Rob Cheffins, sophomore accounting major.

“It wasn’t out of control until that girl got pushed by the cops.”

-Jon Abersold, freshman undecided major.

“The fires didn’t start first. I was running from the cops’ shots before any fires started.”

“I heard everyone start screaming so I ducked and started running after I heard them shooting.”

-Lauren McCumber, junior integrated language arts major.

“The cops are there for the wrong reasons, they were just there to act tough.”

“I was arrested and spent 6 hours in jail for just standing on my front porch.”

“It cost $300 to bail me out of jail and now this is on my permanent record.”

“It’s like they were just shooting to shoot.”

“We got arrested for failure to disperse but we didn’t hear the order. We were inside and we went out on the porch to grab some things and they arrested us.”

“They dragged me down the street without shoes on with all the glass and the fire. They didn’t even tell me what I was being arrested for.”

– Joey Smith, senior psychology major, arrested at 241 College Ave.

“They started shooting at people on the roof and other random people.”

“It just turned into the State versus the students.”

“The students were definitely not acting appropriate, but the police didn’t help things, either.”

– Corey Williams, senior international relations major, shot at with paint balls while sitting on the roof of his house on College Ave.

“Someone brought a couch out and then they started throwing everything onto the fire.”

“We could feel the fire from the roof we were sitting on.”

– Sarah Sumser, senior criminal justice major

“There were so many people standing around the fire, you couldn’t even see the street.”

– Samantha Nescola, senior communications senior

“There were four or five cops and they started arresting people on the sidewalk for open container. This girl’s friend got arrested and she went up to see why, then she got pushed down. People started throwing bottles after that and the cops fired those rubber bullets right after.”

– Kirk Price, junior justice studies major

“I think it was completely unnecessary aggression.”

“From what I saw the cops started getting more aggressive than the people.”

Brianna Foreman, sophomore, undeclared

“Never once was I told what I was being charged with. I didn’t know what I was charged with until I got back and looked at the paper work.”

Bill Hudnutt, visiting friend of residents at 241 College Ave.

“They were supposed to be the ones keeping peace and they were just as rowdy as the students.”

“They didn’t give us any warning at all, they just came down and arrested us.”

“They were shooting at people who were running away.”

– Tim Zets, business major at Akron University, arrested at 241 College Ave.

“I never understood how the police always get away with this.”

– Tony Pervetich, senior computer information systems major