Skate City has canceled its hip-hop night for teenagers after a brawl broke out between two girls and an off-duty Aurora officer, according to police and the rink manager.
The girls, ages 13 and 14, were arrested Saturday night, accused of punching the officer in the face and hitting him in the head with a roller skate, police said.
Ronnell Albright, the father of one of the arrested girls and the brother of the other, says the girls did not do anything wrong.
“My sister is in a neck brace, and my daughter got slammed in her face,” Albright said. “Everything is false charges. The cops are going to say what they need to say to protect themselves.”
The violence broke out about 10 p.m. Saturday at the roller rink on Hampden Avenue and Chambers Road, drawing a crowd that eventually had to be dispersed with pepper spray.
It all started, manager Jason Ingrum said, when the uniformed officer asked a girl to put her skates on. Skaters under 18 are not allowed to be in the rink without roller skates.
The girl refused to cooperate, prompting the officer to escort her out of the rink, Ingrum said.
As the officer was taking the girl out, a second female teenager attacked him, police said in a statement. While the officer was distracted, the first girl punched him in the face, the statement said.
During the fight, a roller skate was picked up by one of the teenagers and used to strike the officer, police said.
As the fight went on, a crowd began to form around the officer and the two girls, prompting a call for backup.
More officers arrived and used a pepperball gun to disperse the crowd.
A pepperball gun is a device that allows officers to launch into the air round pellets that hold irritating chemicals.
But Albright says the girls were mistaken by police as the assailants. He says witnesses have told him that the girls were merely caught up in a riot that started and were singled out for no reason.
“My kids did not have anything to do with it.” Albright said. “Skates start getting tossed around. I do not know if my daughter and sister were just by that area when people started tossing skates.”
Aurora firefighters also were called to help treat some of those exposed to the pepper spray.
About 500 people were at the rink’s Teen Hip Hop Night, Ingrum said.
“A bunch of her friends were really upset about what happened,” Ingrum said. “That’s why the police handled the matter the way they did.”
The officer that police said was assaulted had minor injuries.
One of the girls involved in the incident was arrested on suspicion of first-degree assault on a peace officer with bail set at $50,000. The other girl was arrested on suspicion of second-degree assault on a peace officer, with bail set at $6,000.
“We’ve been here for 33 years and never had issues,” Ingrum said.
Teen Hip Hop nights began seven months ago at the rink, but Ingrum says they won’t be having them any longer.
“We are just going to do general public skating,” he said. “We don’t want any other incidents like that.”
Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-820-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com.
