The day after a riot threw Iowa State into the national spotlight, answers to how the riot started became more clear.

Ames Police Chief Loras Jaeger said at a press conference Sunday the riot began shortly after police officers dispersed a crowd of about 400 people at a party on Hunt Street.

Although some students in the area at the time claimed there was unnecessary aggression on the police’s part, several reports of violent behavior involving riot-control techniques, such as pepper spray, have not been supported. Students living in the area said a large group of people had congregated in front of an 8-plex at 2644 Hunt St., and many were gathered outside other houses on Hunt Street.

At that address, Adam Hotz, junior in finance, was arrested on charges of bootlegging, said Ames Police Cmdr. Jim Robinson.

“We had officers responding to a complaint and responded to an investigation of bootlegging and issuing citations to individuals who were in possession of alcohol under the legal age,” Robinson said.

The police noticed a person taking money, and alcohol was being served to party guests. It was also noted the money being taken was going to be used to purchase additional kegs of beer, Robinson said in a press release.

Students who were in the neighborhood when officers first responded to the party, which spilled out into the street, denied rumors of officers tazing individuals and spraying them with pepper spray.

“They pulled out Mace, but never Maced my roommate; [they] held it in his face,” said Tommy Dale, senior in agricultural systems technology. “[They] were just pushing, they weren’t Macing anybody I saw at that point.”

Robinson said he was not aware of any police officers using riot-control agents.

“Pepper spray was not being used,” he said.

Kay Craig, 2601 Hunt St., said she did not see any violence from either party-goers or police when she woke up at 12:30 a.m.

“I saw no pepper spray … they just kind of went back and forth,” she said. “The four policemen were just standing right out on the corner, there was nothing.”

Most residents of Hunt Street said they believed officers were not violent, but unnecessarily aggressive.

“They were pushing people down stairs,” said Kinkayde Kybat of Council Bluffs. “[They] pushed me down the hill.”

Kybat was at the party officers broke up on Hunt Street. He said he saw officers confront a man, asking him to leave the area. The man responded that he was leaving, and officers pushed him down the stairs, Kybat said.

When officers originally responded to the party, Robinson said, bottles and cans were thrown at officers, causing them to back away from the area.

Students attending the party and those in the area said they did not see anything thrown at officers.

Casey Jacobsen, freshman in animal science, said he did not see any sort of violence from officers or students until officers “tackled” a man in the street.

“I never saw one person throw anything,” Jacobsen said. “I didn’t see anything happen until after that first kid got arrested. I think somebody did throw something down at the street. I never saw any kind of violence from the crowd.”

Pat Whannell, junior in marketing who lives at the 8-plex on Hunt Street, said he spoke to two officers, who were pleasant. However, he said he saw several officers in riot gear who were acting inappropriately.

“The crowd wouldn’t have gotten rowdy if cops hadn’t gotten physical,” he said.

Robinson said officers did not put on riot gear while they were on Hunt Street.

“Some of the officers put on a helmet because of what happened earlier to the officers that were there, but there were no riot shields, gas masks or riot batons,” he said.

“They used the helmets as protection for the bottles and cans that had been thrown earlier at officers.”

Robinson and residents of the Hunt Street area agreed problems did not occur until party-goers moved into the area of Hayward Avenue and Hunt Street, after the party had been broken up.

“But once the party was dispersed in the area of Hayward and Hunt,” Robinson said, “It was shortly after that, that we received reports of large groups beginning the destructive behavior.”

Josh Krieger, senior in elementary education, said he believed the appearance of a paddy wagon on the corner of Hayward Avenue and Hunt Street incited violence from the crowd.

He said he saw people being “thrown in” the paddy wagon unnecessarily. It was then the chants of “riot, riot” began.

“There was a paddy wagon; I think people were throwing rocks,” he said. “That’s where I observed everything started.”