Laurelhurst Park to close early after 2 reports of fights - KPTV - FOX 12
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Laurelhurst Park will close early this weekend, after reports of groups of teen boys attacking others two nights this week.
Police responded to a report of 150 drunk teens in the park around 10 p.m. Wednesday. Officers who responded found several groups of teens leaving.
A woman pointed officers to a 14-year-old boy who had minor facial injuries. He told officers several teens beat him up, stole his cell phone, iPod, headphones and hat.
Witnesses told police they saw a group of five to 10 teens attacking the other teens and a transient, but officers did not find other victims.
On Thursday night, police responded to a report of a fight near the tennis courts at the park.
Three men told police they were playing a game of "soccer tennis" at the park, when the lights went out. They left the court, and returned when the lights came back on. At that point, a group of 20-30 teens were also on the court and a few threw broken bottles.
One of the men objected and a fight broke out. Two men received minor injuries.
Sgt. Pete Simpson said the two incidents do not appear to be connected and are not gang-related. He said bias crimes will review the incident, but so far, there is no indication they were hate crimes.
Police officers, park rangers and security guards will also be patrolling the area around the park.
The park will close at 10 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, two hours earlier than usual.
If you have any information about either incident, contact Portland police.
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