UCPD breaks up post-Undie Run parties with pepper balls, patrols

University police broke up parties in the North Village after the quarterly Undie Run early Thursday morning using crowd control methods witnesses described as excessive.

After Undie Run, an unofficial university tradition held during final exams, ended peacefully, about 400 people gathered in large groups in the streets around North Village apartments, said Nancy Greenstein, spokeswoman for UCPD, in a statement.

UCPD officers asked the groups to move out of the street but the assembled did not obey instructions, Greenstein said in the statement. She added that UCPD received several calls about noise disturbances in the area, so the officers issued an unlawful assembly dispersal over a loudspeaker.

About 20 to 30 officers were patrolling the area, using protective gear such as shields and helmets.

Several people responded to the officers’ announcement by throwing bricks, rocks and bottles at the officers, Greenstein said. One of the officers was hit by a rock, she added.

When the crowd did not disperse, officers formed a line and aimed pepper balls – pellets filled with the same oleoresin capsicum powder found in pepper spray – at balconies and the ground to get people to leave.

Jonavan Colon, a second-year student at Santa Monica College who lives in the Co-op on the corner of Landfair Avenue and Ophir Drive, said police shot pepper balls into his bedroom from the street after officers asked him to go into his room from the balcony he was standing on.

Colon said he was coughing and sneezing several hours afterward from the powder in the pepper balls.

Claudia Varney, a third-year world arts and cultures student, said she saw police acting forcefully from her room on the fifth floor of the Co-op after she returned from the Undie Run.

She said she saw about 15 to 20 officers marching down Landfair Avenue to clear the crowds while people were running and screaming down the street.

Varney added that police warned those in the street and watching from their balconies to leave or they would be hit with pepper balls.

Other students said they felt police frightened them.

Eric Adams, a fourth-year Afro-American studies student, said he felt scared walking back to the Hill from the North Village because police were telling people to get out of the street.

“Lights were on, bullhorns (going off),” he said. “It felt very hectic, very hostile.”

Greenstein said officers remained stationed around the North Village apartments until about 2:30 a.m. No arrests or major injuries were reported before that time, she added.