Violence worries mall workers
Although a melee at Northpark Mall resulted in minor charges involving only a handful of people, mall merchants continue to wonder how violent outbreaks can be contained in the future.
Managers and clerks in various stores at the Davenport mall said Sunday afternoon that traffic was normal considering the snowfall and the Bears/Saints game.
A brawl that involved about 100 teenagers and adolescents broke out about 5:40 p.m. Saturday in the food court area in the Davenport mall.
Davenport police reported no major incidents Sunday at NorthPark Mall.
“We’re providing additional walk-throughs with uniformed patrol officers until things settle down,” Police Chief Mike Bladel said Sunday.
Kari Salmonson, who works at the Cingular kiosk, worked Sunday afternoon. Traffic, she said, “was hard to gauge, but it seems normal for a Sunday.”
She said that workers left the kiosk Saturday night. “First, we ducked, and then we left.”
She said that she knew real trouble was brewing “when they started handcuffing people. This little girl, she sprayed one of the security guards in the face (with pepper spray). She looked like she was about 8 years old.
“There were tons of people here,” she said. “As it started escalating, I thought, holy cow, this is really starting to get out of hand.”
She said that the kiosk was shut down at 7:45 p.m. “I was kind of freaked out,” she said. “Being out in the middle of the mall, we can’t just close our doors.”
The owner of the mall’s only sitdown restaurant, away from the food court, said security needs improvement.
“I think security is very lax, actually. It’s a mall, and things shouldn’t happen at a mall,” said Rolando Moran, owner of Habanero’s Mexican Cuisine.
Security guards patrol the mall, but they have told him they are not armed and must wait for Davenport police officers to arrive. One guard told him, “I have (only) a flashlight,” Moran said.
Despite a slow Sunday that he attributed to weather and football games, he said business is good for him at both Quad-City malls.
A woman who answered the phone in the mall’s office Sunday afternoon said that: “Security is in a meeting,” and said that she was not supposed to give out any information.
Police continue to investigate the cause of the incident, which apparently began with with a fight between two females, then escalated into a number of fights.
“Certainly, we will review this issue,” Bladel said. “These things happen with the advent of cell phones and the ability to call your friends,” he said. “There’s a lot of drama going on very quickly.”
Even if such incidents are spontaneous in nature, he said, devices such as cell phones, text messaging and speed dialing compound the seriousness. “Through rapid communication ... now you have the ability to gather your friends around you and coordinate aggressiveness.”
Davenport police officers work off-duty jobs at the mall, which has a successful history of utilizing uniformed Davenport police officers with private security, Bladel said. Officers who want to work as security officers must file a request to work off-duty jobs, he said. They register when they are working at the mall.
“For safety purposes, we know who’s working there,” he said.
In Moline, Sgt. Mike Hutton said that three uniformed officers split their shifts “so that we’ve got coverage from open to close” at SouthPark Mall, Moline. The mall also has a security force, he said, adding that such incidents are “not a problem” at SouthPark.
Such an incident would not have happened at Moran’s other restaurant at SouthPark, which has been open for about three weeks, he said. Uniformed officers eat there often during their shifts at the mall, he said.
(Assistant city editor Janet Hill contributed to this report.)
8 charged
Eight people, including three adults and two adult parents of juveniles, were charged or cited with minor offenses after a brawl at NorthPark Mall, Davenport, on Saturday night:
Trell Laverne Everett, 18, of 2616 W. 55th St., Davenport; was charged with disorderly conduct by fighting and failure to disperse. Police allege that he and three of his friends were told to leave the mall several times by uniformed officers before Everett was involved in the disturbance. Everett allegedly refused to listen to officers.
Cory Lamar Carter, 18, of 2030 Emerald Drive, Davenport, allegedly took a fighting stance and had both hands clenched in fists, about to fight with an unknown person in the south parking lot of J.C. Penney, police said. Carter allegedly ran when he was told he was under arrest and continued to run until he was taken into custody at the Firestone building near the mall. He was charged with disorderly conduct, failure to disperse and interference with official acts.
Joseph Morrow, 21, of 615 7th Ave., Clinton, Iowa, also was charged with interference with official acts.
In addition, two juveniles who were cited for disorderly conduct by fighting and failure to disperse were turned over to the custody of their parents; two parents received parental responsibility warnings; and a 16-year-old was charged with disorderly conduct by fighting and failure to disperse.
The young people allegedly were involved in a melee about 5:40 p.m. Saturday that caused several shops to close and sent shoppers running for safety, involved about 100 teens and adolescents in the mall’s food court area.
The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2450 or newsroom@qctimes.com.
About the case
More than 100 teens and adolescents were involved in a brawl Saturday night. The brawl broke out in the food court area at NorthPark Mall in Davenport.