Pepper Spray Quells Fight at University Social Event

A dance held at the Carl A. Fields Center on Princeton University campus was disrupted by a large fight involving 10 to 20 people. The dance was sponsored by a student organization called the Caribbean Connection.

At around 1:20 am the campus police (Public Safety Officers) received multiple calls from dance attendees regarding an escalating fight at the party. One Public Safety Officer had already been assigned to the event, due to its size and nature, and three additional Public Safety Officers were on hand due to an earlier incident at the same event.

The event’s attendance was around 200 people so it is not surprising that the Public Safety Officers found it difficult to wade through the crowd and attempt to control the situation by separating the group that was actually fighting.

The situation continued to escalate and the Public Safety Officers feared for their own safety and the safety of the other attendees of the dance. The crowd dispersed without further violence, though, after a few passes of pepper spray over the crowd. Borough Police Officers, who arrived on the scene later, sprayed the crowd twice before the fighting ceased entirely.

Police and Public Safety Officers dispersed the crowd but did not issue any complaints or arrest warrants. The investigation into the incident is ongoing. No one has yet come forward, however, to report being assaulted or injured at the event.

The Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students at Princeton noted that this was a rare but serious incident and “an aberration” from the norm of student organization sponsored events.