MILFORD, Conn. — Police are asking for the public's assistance tonight in identifying those responsible for the massive fights that broke out at Walnut Beach in Milford early Monday evening. They said they are already making headway thanks to the body camera footage they have put out on social media.
In response to the melee, the city is adding more police to patrol Walnut Beach and they are strengthening the infrastructure in part by having installed fencing around the parking lot so the beachgoers are now funneled to the main gate for entry.
Milford Police did have Walnut Beach staffed Monday, but not nearly well enough to prevent the perfect storm.
"It was great weather, It was a holiday weekend," explained PFC Marilisa Anania of the Milford Police Department. "So, there were more people than normal there."
There were too many to count involved in multiple fights that resulted in several officers losing their body cameras.
"So, it either means that the somebody bumped into the officers strongly enough to get that (camera) off or it was pulled from the officers' chest," Anania said. "We are still missing one body camera."
Now, Milford Police are looking for the public's help in identifying those involved. So, they've posted the unedited version of these body camera videos to their Facebook page.
"With getting us identifying information or any information they can from what was found either online or at the beach," Anania said.
The police are also using social media as a tool to keep Walnut Beach safe moving forward.
"We got a lot of intelligence on any future plans (events at beach) or any people that may have been involved in it (fight)," the officer added. "So now we're just doing our best to track everyone down and get everyone side of the story."
Opinions of Walnut Beach differ depending on who you speak with.
"I mean I've been coming down here for years and almost always it's a pretty mellow down here so I have a feeling it was the memorial day with the huge crowds," said Jeff Proud of Milford.
"A lot of drinking going on and sometimes there's pot or something on the beach you know what the police were here the other day to you know get rid of the people that were doing that," said Kevin Kazmercyk of Milford.
Milford police said they received assistance from four other local police departments and State Police in gaining control of Monday's melee, which fortunately did not result in any injuries.
Tony Terzi is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at tterzi@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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