A fight broke out at an ice rink in Florida after a child’s birthday party had to be canceled. Now the rink owner is coming out, and he or she plans to talk to the police about what happened.
The owner of the Hillsborough County Ice Rink, Chris Manganias, said on “Fox & Friends First” that the event was planned as a child’s party from 11:30 p.m. to 2 a.m., but a manager saw that the clients were advertising it online as a teen dance party.
Manganias said the clients broke their contract by advertising the event without permission and not hiring an off-duty deputy for protection, which is what the rink needs for teen events.
Then he made the choice to cancel the whole event.
“So we exercised our option, called [the client] on Friday, gave her her money back,” he said.
“She yelled and cursed and kept going, calling us all kinds of dirty names.” And then on Saturday, they started posting on social media to “go to the rink and give the police and the rink a hard time.” That’s what they did.”
Police say that as many as 400 people showed up, and things quickly turned into a huge fight.
“Man, it’s a different world. Twelve to thirteen-year-olds are swearing, yelling, and calling the cops. When the moms come, they say, “Oh, they’re just kids.” Even though I’ve worked with kids all my life. What do you see on that cam? “Those aren’t kids.”
A video from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office shows a frightening amount of violence, with dozens of people fighting with their fists and breaking windows.
Manganias said that after being turned away, a large group of people gathered outside the rink. When people tried to break up the large group, fighting broke out.
In the end, police nabbed 23 teens and 6 adults.
“The mood has changed a lot with the teens,” he said, adding that many rinks don’t have any events on Friday or Saturday nights.
“I make the call when the crowd smells like marijuana and when all you can hear is bad language that we’re not allowed to use.” I told them, “Look, we’re done.” “No one else will be able to come in.”
“They split up, but then they attacked people and destroyed businesses all the way up and down the block.” That’s the weather right now with that part.”
According to Manganias, there was protection at the rink when the fight started because he always hires off-duty police, but the crowd didn’t seem to care.
“These videos of people fighting up and down the street don’t show anyone on roller skates.” They don’t have any skates on. They came to fight. “That’s what they do,” he said.