A Florida block party that drew 3,000 people got shut down amid violence, calls of racism - USA TODAY

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Patricio G. Balona and Katie Kustura The Daytona Beach News-Journal

Published 10:14 AM EDT May 20, 2020

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Central Florida law enforcement are vehemently denying allegations of racism and police brutality after shutting down a central Florida block party that drew around 3,000 attendees.

The event, which was held in the Spring Hill community of DeLand, started Saturday afternoon and lasted through early the next day.

One individual, however, said that the community gathering was initially a memorial to honor a victim of gun violence, but devolved into a separate function where the confrontations with police took place. 

DeLand police Chief Jason Umberger explained in a joint press conference Monday with Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood that the shutdown of the party had to do with “lawlessness,” not discrimination toward the black community in DeLand. 

“This incident has nothing to do with race. It has more to do with public safety and law and order,” Umberger said. “We are out there doing the best that we can to keep a situation as peaceful as we can and someone points a rifle at a law enforcement officer, I mean, we’ve got to address that.”

At around 10:30 p.m., a rifle was pointed at a Volusia County sheriff’s deputy, Umberger said. The rifle-pointing started a string of incidents that led to a Volusia sheriff’s deputy being struck with a bar stool and another suffering a leg injury, while a DeLand police officer was hit in the head with a jar as he helped a deputy make an arrest.

Shortly after midnight, where about 1,500 people and vehicles had gathered, deputies saw two men exchanging a firearm, per the Sheriff’s Office. Those men, Charles Turner and Alphonso Parker, were later arrested.

“Ninety-five percent of the people out there were probably having a good time but you have 5% who were out there inciting a riot, carrying firearms, selling drugs and destroying the community’s quality of life,” Chitwood said.

The Sheriff’s Office arrested seven people at the party, including three felons found with firearms. DeLand police arrested another woman on suspicion of hitting an officer in the head with a bottle, authorities said.

But Javi Renee Collier, the cousin of Kenya Alexander, who held the memorial, said the block party was in no way a reflection of the memorial service, noting that the violence occurred after the memorial ended at 10 p.m.

“Our memorial didn’t have any drama or problems from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.,” Collier said. “All the violence occurred two blocks over and it happened after midnight.”

Alexander was shot Sept. 5, 2008, and died the following day.

A memorial for Alexander has been held annually since 2009, she explained, and the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office was aware of Saturday’s gathering, even bringing a Sheriff’s Office command post to the scene.

Collier said the memorial was originally planned for March but was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. But once county officials started opening the beach last week, they believed it was OK to hold the memorial.

Collier said her family was appalled by the violence against the police on Saturday. But they were also upset that Chitwood said this week that he didn’t know about the memorial event and criticized it, Collier said.

“It’s very offensive to our family and our deceased cousin that Sheriff Chitwood lied about not knowing of our memorial and called our event an (expletive) show,” Collier said. “Everything that happened after our memorial had nothing to do with us or our event.”

The roving block parties that followed, leading to the violence against law enforcement, included people who were at the memorial, Chitwood said.

Officials on Monday said no authorizations were issued for the event by either the city of DeLand or Volusia County, officials said. Collier said, however, that the event began in the family's backyard, which didn't require a permit.

“Nothing about that is illegal at all," Collier said. "We had no idea all of those people were going to show up."

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