Police have hands full on Gameday in downtown Athens

Officer Miranda Duarte surveys the Gameday crowd

By Joe Johnson

Fellow police officers rushed to an area outside of an East Clayton Street bar to assist Lauren Nalley in her struggle with a large intoxicated man who was eventually subdued and arrested for aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer among other offenses.

Around the corner on East Broad Street a drunken student hurled racial insults at Officer Zachery Espinosa who was trying to get him out of the street for his own safety. The 20-year-old student was arrested for disorderly conduct and public intoxication.

And back on East Clayton, Officer First Class Michael Williams has his hands full dealing with a boisterous crowd of young men on the verge of throwing punches at each other.

He got the situation under control and arrested the most aggressive person in the crowd, an 18-year-old student who was charged with disorderly conduct, obstruction, public intoxication, and possession of fraudulent identification.

Those were just few of the incidents officers with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department contended with on the night of September 27th following the much hyped Georgia-Alabama football rivalry game played earlier at University of Georgia’s Sanford Stadium.

The game brought larger than usual crowds to to the city’s bar and entertainment district, according to Lt. Jeff McFaddin, commanding officer of downtown operations for ACCPD.

“Crowds in downtown Athens were as big as we’ve seen,” he said. “Georgia fans brought the town to life, Alabama fans added some color, and everyone brought their game-day energy."

Officer Colton Justice in a crowded downtown intersection

From 6 p.m. through 4 a.m. police officers responded to a whopping 289 calls.

“Comparatively, on the non-home game Saturday night of October 11th (we) received 129 calls via 911,” said Kevin Zapata, operations coordinator for ACCPD.