Celebrations On Denver Streets Mostly Peaceful, 17 Arrested
DENVER (CBS4) - In the days leading up to the Super Bowl, police in Denver made pleas to residents to avoid rowdiness in their celebrations if the Broncos won.
The message apparently got through loud and clear, as fans who swarmed the streets of LoDo after the Broncos defeated the Panthers in Super Bowl 50 mostly kept things peaceful.
The excitement included hours of drivers honking car horns in celebration and some fireworks were set off.
Not everyone was celebrating with good manners, though. Denver police say 17 unruly people among the seas of fans were arrested.
One of those arrests took place at 16th Street and Welton Street. A woman there was taken into custody for allegedly having a gun and acting in a threatening manner.
Police are being credited with containing the celebration to a manageable size and in controllable locations.
There were fireworks at 20th and Market, but police blocked off the area keeping the crowd inside a perimeter that it could handle. The vandalism was minor compared to past years when cars were overturned and windows broken.
The other main area of celebration and police presence was the 16th Street Mall around Champa Street. Pepper spray and pepper balls were used in some instances on people who were throwing objects.
The arrests ranged from drunkenness to disorderly conduct, creating a disturbance and trespassing, but police feel over all it went well.
"It appeared that they might be trying to tip over a car but we were able to intervene," Denver Police spokesman Doug Schepman said. "Somebody was trying to start a fire on the ground that we were able to intervene with; so by addressing those things quickly we were able keep things from getting out of hand."