AMHERST — Amherst Fire Department paramedics, aided by crews on four ambulances brought in from other agencies, treated 70 intoxicated people over Halloween weekend.
Fire Chief Lindsay Stromgren said the department anticipated a busy weekend and increased staffing Thursday and Friday nights. On Saturday, it brought in significantly more help, including hiring ambulances from other agencies to stage in town.
These additional ambulances were paid for by the University of Massachusetts and Amherst College. This prestaging limited mutual aid ambulances called into town to just three on Saturday, though there were 16 mutual aid responses on Friday.
Treatment for these drunken people were among 126 medical calls from Thursday at 5 p.m. through Sunday at 7 a.m., with Friday being the busiest evening, Stromgren said. There were 145 total calls for the department during the weekend.
The sizable number of medical calls came as police responded to 385 calls for service from Friday morning through Sunday evening, a 62% increase from the 237 calls logged during the same timeframe the previous weekend.
Over the course of the weekend, 49 individuals were either arrested or summoned to court for various alcohol-related incidents, according to police.
Of these criminal charges, 14 people were arrested for being minors in possession of alcohol and violating the town’s open container bylaw; 13 people were issued summons to court for being minors in possession of alcohol and violating the town’s open container bylaw’ another 13 people were issued court summons for violations of the open container bylaw; and nine people under 21 were issued summons to court for being minors in possession of alcohol.
Police also broke up two large parties. The first began as a disturbance at 10:51 p.m. Friday on Hobart Lane, where police said two men, one wearing a Pilgrim hat and the other dressed as a jack-o’-lantern, were challenging people to fight.
More than 1,000 college-age people had gathered in the neighborhood off North Pleasant Street, north of the UMass campus. As the crowd scattered, police detoured traffic from the street to keep people safe.
At 10:39 p.m. Saturday, police cleared a large party spilling out of homes on North Pleasant Street between Fearing and Phillips streets. Most guests had dispersed by 11:06 p.m., and no further enforcement action was taken.
Other incidents also kept police busy, according to the police log. At 10:34 p.m. Friday, a man dressed as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle hit a state police cruiser while crossing the street in a crosswalk. He was advised to go home for the night.
At 10:17 p.m. Saturday on North Pleasant Street, a woman suffered a bloody nose and a bruised chin in a fight with a neighbor. Police are investigating but said it was unclear who was the aggressor.
