Ames Police Chief Loras Jaeger officially briefed the Ames City Council about the April 18 Veishea riot Tuesday night.

He outlined police response to complaints and events from April 15 through 18, detailing Sunday morning, when a riot engulfed Campustown after a party was dispersed at 2644 Hunt St.

Jaeger attempted to clarify rumors regarding police action. Rumors have circulated, he said, of police arriving at the Hunt Street party dressed in full riot gear, before any disturbance to warrant such action had taken place. He said that wasn’t true.

“This party was handled like we handle every party every night, every weekend,” he said.

After police received a complaint about the party, a bootlegging team of plain-clothes officers investigated and determined illegal activities were taking place, he said.

After they confirmed bootlegging and consumption of alcohol by minors, two uniformed officers, two bicycle patrol officers and a supervising officer went to the party to disperse the crowd, issue citations and arrest the bootleggers. During this process, Jaeger said an individual being arrested for public intoxication attempted to flee and was subdued. This action drew the ire of the approximately 400-person crowd. Following the arrest, people in the crowd began throwing bottles and rocks and chanting “Riot, riot,” he said.

Two officers who left the scene were replaced by officers in helmets and face shields — not full riot gear, Jaeger said. By the time they arrived, the crowd was less than 100 people, and many partygoers were traveling toward Welch Avenue. The chanting mob grew as it passed smaller parties along the street, he said.

“Many in that crowd had cellular telephones,” Jaeger said. “This may well have contributed to the rapid growth of that crowd as they started to move east … In this short period of time, this group doubled or tripled in size.”

The police did not intend to move the crowd toward Welch Avenue, he said. The goal was to move it west, but the crowd began to move while police were not present.

Jaeger explained and defended police use of crowd-control gases. Violence and property damage occurred before use of any riot-control methods, Jaeger said. A street sign was torn down; windows at Vogue Vision Center, 223 Welch Ave., were broken at 12:35 a.m.; and street barricades were damaged. Fights also broke out, and a trash can was burned shortly thereafter. All of this occurred before a 1:01 a.m. police announcement of illegal assembly and imminent use of riot-control gas, he said.

Law enforcement acted correctly in using the gases, which included pepper spray and two forms of tear gas, he said. Another option, according to the “force continuum” police follow, would have been use of impact weapons, such as riot sticks. The fact that police caused no serious injuries is proof of appropriate force, Jaeger said.

After the presentation, there was general sentiment that Jaeger was accurate in his account. Several students said they were satisfied with the description, so long as it was seen as one account from an individual in the midst of the event.

“The general account of his time frame seems to be accurate,” said Dave Stout, senior in management and information systems. “What you can’t see from that is the mood of what happened. … To Chief of Police Jaeger, the mood that he saw was disrespect from the students toward the city and the businesses. That’s what he can see, and if you’re talking to a student who was also there who was either unaware or participating, they’ll have a different perspective.”

Drew Miller, senior in computer science, agreed Jaeger’s account was accurate, but wondered if individuals were properly informed before police took action.

“For the most part, I think it was pretty accurate — don’t get me wrong — but the way he insinuated that everyone there was guilty of failure to disperse — I don’t think that jived with reality because … contrary to what he said … everyone I’ve talked to who was there said they never heard any order to disperse.”