'It wasn't a riot': New details on chaotic scene at Boulevard Mall in Amherst that drew heavy police response

Within an hour, the crowd had swelled to 150 people, police reported.

One responding officer wielded a baton to try to break up a fight. Another deployed pepper spray. Part of the crowd later surged across Alberta Drive to Wegmans, where some teens made a mess in the store.

A dozen other police agencies were called to back up Amherst police. No one was arrested but the at-times-chaotic scene wasn't cleared until midnight.

"I saw somebody say it was a riot. It wasn't a riot. Really, it was just what happens when you get 200 16- to 20-year-olds hanging out together," said Bob Golibersuch, the owner of the neighboring Screening Room at the mall.

The incident occurred amid growing concern about the effects of fights among youths. Last week the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library announced it would begin closing the Central Library downtown at 3 p.m. due to a surge in high school-age violence. The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority earlier this year created a new detail called the Transit School Resource Unit that aims to prevent incidents among youths that might discourage riders from using public trains or buses.

A police report provided in response to a Freedom of Information Law request offers new details on the events of Feb. 25 at the Boulevard Mall.

Amherst police reported the teens and young adults had attended a party at a business in the mall that grew out of control after it was promoted on social media.

However, Window Source owner Kendell Lowry said he held a small family gathering that night and did not seek out the larger group that flocked to the mall. Reports of widespread problems were overstated, he said.

"To even be hearing about it again, after three weeks later, it's kind of a shock to me," Lowry said in an interview.

The incident started around 9 p.m. Lowry said he was hosting his nephew's 16th birthday at his shop within the mall. Only about 30 people were invited, said Lowry, who said he had not previously held an event like this at his business in the former Express store.

He said the larger crowd of young people arrived following that day's high school boys' basketball playoff games after word spread online.

"They never actually came to the mall, or to my business, because it was closed. So they were just in the parking lot at the mall," Lowry said.

Golibersuch said he called 911 because of the large crowd that had gathered in the lot facing Alberta, outside his business, to wait for Ubers and other rides home.

"I could see a little bit of pushing and shoving going on. And I could just see that, with the crowd growing, it could have developed into something," Golibersuch said.

By the time Amherst police arrived, the crowd had grown to about 75 people. Around 10:15, police say a large group exited the Window Source, swelling the crowd to about 150 people.

"Screaming ensued and a fight erupted," according to the police report.

Another brawl broke out among five or six young men, with one throwing another participant onto the ground and continuing to hit him.

While police were able to get most to stop, some ignored them and an officer had to grab them and pull them apart. Officers broke up several other fights.

Two officers filed use of force reports after taking out their batons to try to separate some of the brawling teenagers. One officer reported delivering "several strikes to the appendages of the fighting males" until they stopped.

The officer who deployed pepper spray to break up a fight also reported its use.

The police report states one young man was taken to the ground by officers and placed in custody. He was put in the back of a patrol car, after an officer flushed pepper spray out of his eyes, before he was later released to his mother.

Amherst Police Capt. Christopher Meyer said department brass reviewed the reports and found all three uses of force justified under the circumstances.

At least 12 other police agencies from across Erie County assisted Amherst police, who had seven officers and two lieutenants on site, in clearing the parking lot.

"In 12 years, I've never dealt with something of that magnitude at the mall," Police Lt. Kyle LeFevre said.

Some of the teens moved across Alberta Drive to Wegmans.

"A couple of product displays were knocked over and the product spilled, but no significant damage to property," Michele Mehaffy, a Wegmans spokesman, said in an email. The manager on duty was able to quickly escort the group out of the store, Mehaffy said.

No one was arrested that night. The police report cited "the fluidity and volatility of the situation," and the lack of serious injuries, as the main reasons.

"Once these fights break up, everyone scatters," said LeFevre, making it difficult to find victims or document injuries.

Officers finally cleared the scene around midnight. They also made a referral about the Window Source to the town Building Department.

"The Building Department made an inspection of the tenant space on the Monday following the complaint," Building Commissioner Mark Berke said in an email. "No violations were witnessed at that time. That was our only involvement."

The Window Source, a provider of new and replacement windows, had offices at the Boulevard Mall for about two years, Lowry said, though the business wasn't open to walk-up customers.

The company, like many inside a mall poised for redevelopment, was on a month-to-month lease, he said.

Following the Feb. 25 incident, Window Source's lease was not renewed.

Amanda Baumler, the Boulevard Mall's general manager, declined comment. Lowry said it was a "mutual" decision with mall management and not a direct response to the events of that night.

Lowry, for his part, said he's concerned about his company's reputation.

Asked whether he feels he took the blame for what happened, Lowry said, "I'm starting to feel that way now."