NBA Finals Celebration Madness: People Arrested and Police Officers Injured

Recently the NBA Finals have just concluded, with the Los Angeles Lakers winning the title. As always, there is a celebration as a result of a championship, however Lakers fans are seriously going above and beyond the call of duty.

So much so that the Los Angeles police department had to be called in to control the situation. The Los Angeles Police Department has since issued this report. Cops say 76 people were arrested in total and 8 officers were injured in the Sunday night chaos.

The LAPD says 2 people were injured by “less lethal munitions fired by our officers”. Additionally, more than 30 buildings were damaged. The LAPD issued the following statement saying, “What started out as a largely peaceful celebration of the Los Angeles Lakers NBA championship in downtown Los Angeles, turned into confrontational, violent and destructive behavior late last night”.

“A crowd of more than 1,000 revelers descended into the area around Staples Center after the game. Unruly individuals mixed within the crowd began throwing glass bottles, rocks, and other projectiles at officers”. “That is when an unlawful assembly was declared, and only a limited number of people complied and began to disperse. A larger portion of the group broke off and began vandalizing businesses while continuing to engage in violent behavior, some aimed at responding officers”.

“In total, 76 individuals were arrested for vandalism, assault on a police officer, and failure to disperse.” This is quite the celebration; a championship party has not been this crazy since the Philadelphia Eagles last won the Super Bowl. It is important to understand that while there is nothing wrong with celebrating a victory, it should not be done in this manner.