Police arrest 64 students in rioting at Kent State

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An end-of-year college block party spiraled out of control when police fired baton rounds and used pepper spray to break up hundreds of rioting students who sparked a string of street fires at Kent State University.

Video posted on the Internet shows students hurling furniture and street signs into the flames on Saturday night as a SWAT team in riot gear converged on the crowd. Kent police said the party grew violent after one reveler was arrested and students began pelting officers with bottles, bricks and rocks.

“They were burning pretty much everything,” said police dispatcher Rosemarie Mosher. “They were throwing stop signs on the fires, they were throwing chairs, couches, tree branches. Basically anything they could get their hands on.”

At least 64 students were arrested, and several officers suffered minor injuries, Mosher said. Students gathered on front porches at about 8:30 p.m. and began spilling into the streets on the unusually warm evening.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.