McCall Idaho Headline News

North Beach turned unruly on Independence Day as revelers, some nude, numbering between 500 and 1,000 people tossed full beer cans at law enforcement, Valley County Sheriff Patti Bolen said.

One person was injured when they stepped on a broken beer bottle. McCall Fire & EMS responded and treated the injured person at the scene, interim Chief Andrew Lemberes said.

Deputies were told by citizens of the large gathering, which included nudity, fistfights and underage drinking at the party.

The deputies approached the partygoers, witnessed women without their tops on, and observed other women having their tops ripped off, Bolen said.

There were seven boats beached in the immediate vicinity of the party with a large number of people on each boat.

"The crowd began to grow and several individuals were asking why the deputies were there," Bolen said.

The deputies sized up the situation, moved away from the party to a safe distance, and requested backup, she said.

Additional law enforcement officers from the sheriff's office and marine patrol, McCall Police, four park rangers and Idaho State Police were called to the scene.

"While waiting for additional units, a full beer was observed being thrown from the crowd toward the deputies and toward the occupied marine patrol boat, and inciters from the overloaded boats were yelling profanities and challenges to fight," Bolen said.

Patrol teams cleared beach
When additional law enforcement arrived, Eastside Drive was closed down to further traffic.

Officers in three-person teams cleared the beach while others were working to clear the cars that were lined up on both sides of the roadway.

Ponderosa State Park Manager Dennis Coyle ordered the beach closed. Most of the crowd was compliant as the beach was cleared, Bolen said.

"It was unbelievable; you couldn't even walk across the beach," Coyle said. "In my 25 years, I've never seen anything like this. It was an unsafe situation."

The beach was closed for about 90 minutes so that the situation could calm down, he said.
Eastside Drive had cars parked on both sides of the road about three-quarters of a mile north of the completely filled North Beach parking lot, Coyle said.

Cleanup crews from the park filled 40 bags with trash left on the beach by the partygoers.

"Deputies were able to gain verbal compliance from those on the boats who then departed the area," Bolen said. "Due to the volatility of the crowd, no arrests were made."

Bolen said the officers' primary concern was the welfare of citizens by focusing on dispersing the unruly crowd and restoring order.

"This is an incident that could have turned out very differently had there not been the assistance from state and local law enforcement," Bolen said. "All the agencies worked extremely well together and were able to diffuse this very dangerous situation."