As police broke up a disturbance involving hundreds of young people outside a Northside theater on Christmas night, two young men and an three juveniles -- one a teenage girl -- were arrested.
Police say when the Regal River City Marketplace Theater was rushed by 25-30 people without tickets, an officer working off-duty used pepper spray to turn back the crowd, then called for backup.More than 60 officers responded to the Regal River City Marketplace theater around 8:30 p.m. when an officer working off duty could not control a crowd estimated as high as 750 people.
Officers began using loud speakers began going through the crowd asking people to disperse.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office says it took just over an hour to break up the crowd -- some shouting profanities at police.
There were no reports of serious injuries or gunfire. A safe zone was setup for parents and guardians to reunite with their children.
"Our response was quick and effective," said JSO spokeswoman Lauri-Ellen Smith. "Our job is to keep people safe, first and foremost, obviously and that's what our officers did. They do that through tactical activities through crowd control by sequestering the group and again, keeping these folks safe, determining who's fighting, who's not."
3 melee arrestsOn Thursday, police released the names and booking photos of the two young adults and one juvenile accused of felonies, including resisting arrest with violence.
According to the arrest reports, Tevyn Davis, 19, Jaquade Miller, 18, and Khalil Bradley, 17, not only refused to disburse, but took a "fighting stance" toward police and actively resisted arrest.  Miller is accused of swinging at an officer with a closed fist.
The juveniles' identities were withheld because they were only charged with misdemeanors: a boy charged with resisting officer without violence and a girl charged with public nuisance, refusal to disperse and resisting an officer without violence.
Smith said the investigation is ongoing.