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Spring Breaking Bad: Over 100 Arrests, Citations at California Street Party

By Christopher Coble, Esq. on April 11, 2017 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Proving that it's all fun and games until an underage drinker resists arrest, injures a sheriff's deputy, and barricades himself in a house for a half hour, over 100 revelers earned themselves a citation, arrest, or injury while celebrating 'Deltopia,' an annual Santa Barbara spring break party.

Local law enforcement crashed dozens of parties in the Isla Vista neighborhood of Santa Barbara, host to the annual street party blast and popular with students due to its close proximity to UCSB's campus. If the thousands of partygoers were trying to make spring break memories that last a lifetime, more than a few succeeded.

Spring Break Barricades

The numbers can tell us part of the sordid story:

  • 6,000 and 8,000 Deltopia attendees (almost twice as many as last year);
  • 42 people arrested;
  • 68 citations for underage drinking, overcrowding, and other municipal violations; &
  • 14 people injured.

But that's far from the whole tale. Highlights from the Los Angeles Times story include the barricade ballad of one spring breaker determined to avoid arrest:

Authorities had seen the barricaded suspect, Arod Rahim, 19, about 2 p.m. with what appeared to be an open container, but he resisted arrest, causing a sheriff's deputy to fall and suffer a broken hand ...
Rahim, a UCSB student, then ran into a home and refused to come out, police alleged. He was later detained by a sheriff's K-9 unit and booked on charges of resisting arrest and causing injuries to a peace officer.

Springs Are Getting Better All the Time

As bad as this year of Deltopia was, it was nothing compared to the rager in 2014, when over 20,000 flooded Del Playa Drive and beyond and violence erupted when revelers protested the arrest of a fellow partygoer. Cops arrested 130 spring breakers that year after police vehicles were damaged and law enforcement used tear gas, pepper spray, and even flash-bang grenades in an attempt to control the mob.

So if you're just sobering up and dealing with a spring break arrest, contact an experienced criminal defense attorney in your area.

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