why should galveston once again catch a bad wrap for idiots that I bet most of them were not even from our island. Look on youtube. this happens in Louisiana Mardi Gras too! Not just our home! They should face detect as many as they can and charge all of them and make them all pay a fine.

This is utterly ridiculous.....This is not worth putting MG on anymore.......for people to come to the island and act like this! Not that I can read anything on the Galveston Daily News website anymore, but where are the articles about this??? Do they not want the publicity for Mardi Gras?? just wow!

There is no respect or dignity among them!

What happens in Galveston, stays in Galveston.

This is just such a disgrace. How sad!!! Kids are getting worse and worse. They have no respect for themselves or others. A lot stems from how they've been raised. It's embarrassing to see kids younger and younger get so disrespectful and hateful. It's worse to see grown adults acting this way and adding fuel to the fire. It's no wonder this world is barely holding on by a thread. It puts burden on my heart to even want to consider having children in the future and having to exploit them to the evils of this world. I will fear growing older and nearing my death, thinking about how I would have to leave my children behind in such a world blinded by hate. Leaving them to try and fend for themselves for mere survival. People wake up!!! This is Evil at its darkest!!!!. How depressing! Definitely gone are the times when people of different color, different races, different beliefs, different religions could gather together and enjoy even the simplest things in life. It doesn't matter where you look...Galveston, New Orleans, movie theaters, shopping malls, elementary schools...evil is everywhere!!!! Makes my heart tremble with fear. Sad!!!!! What had this world gone to?!?

So much for the $17 fee to get on the Strand to keeping the riff raff out! Where were all the Police and Security? At a MG party? Doubt this happens in NOLA as much as people think it does. The Police are all over the place there. On horseback, foot patrol and vehicles. They don't mess around in NOLA!

If people in Galveston have a problem with this then share this video as much as you can.

GOOD JOB REPORTING. PEOPLE WAS CALLING ASKING IF I HAD HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT THE PROBLEM AND I TOLD THEM TO WAIT FOR TH POLICE NEWS AND THEY WILL RUN IT WHEN EVERYONE ELSE WILL NOT HAVE ANYTHING. THANKS AGAIN FOR THE GOOD REPORTING

Alcohol & idiots = crap like this. Easily fixed though, charge more to get in on the big nights & use the additional money for more police presence. This is very unfortunate but this isn't indicative of Galveston its just some of the low life punks that come in. Just like after the 1st Kappa weekend they have to know that we will NOT put up with tourist or any other person acting the fool. Honestly by what I saw on the video it was rather tame for a "riot". Let us not over react to a few people acting up when the 99% didn't.

Surprising self control for a mob compared to other riot videos I have seen. No tear gas and escalation by the police? I'm impressed Galveston.

Okay, so our local law enforcement put their lives on the line for us....now if they would have responded with aggressive tactics then they would have been at fault. The video of the crowds action would be mimized and the focus only on the police. America we have a problem, you just saw our future.

Well, thank goodness four people weren't shot like in New Orleans where some people think a rowdy crowd doesn't exist. I am sure the Galveston Daily News will report this incident but not until one day next week when life returns to 8522 Teichman Road.

@ LV1951 So, ya think this doesn't happen in New Orleans, huh!? HELLO...have read read ANYTHING about this years Mardi Gras in N.O.? There was a friggin' SHOOTING! No matter where ya go, chances are there are gonna be incidents such as this when there are thousands of people and alcohol. GPD did an AMAZING job this year as they have in the past!

Yep, more of the folks that we pay to support with welfare are showing their true colors. (pun intended) The Earned Income Credit tax refunds must have hit early!

And people really have the nerve to try to prevent us from getting bigger magazines and better assault rifles?

As someone who lived in NOLA for a few years, I don't see the big deal... While I've never seen people riot in new orleans mardi gras, it's just as messy at the end...

Gotham City, yall. Crime will control the city before the cops do. Everyone's just thinking it, I'm going to go ahead and say it. The world is turning into one giant Gotham City.....

Thank you for trying to get this story out!

As usual the Galveston Daily News is trying to downplay what happened.

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines a “Riot” as:

a: public violence, tumult, or disorder

b: a violent public disorder; specifically : a tumultuous disturbance of the public peace by three or more persons assembled together and acting with a common intent

The Galveston Daily News is calling what happened a “near riot” and the video link as “Mardi Gras ruckus”, which is misleading and is clearly not accurate reporting of what took place on the Strand.

The videos you shared only show a small area of the actual rioting, there were some very violent fights/assaults between 24th and 25th Streets that are not on the videos (around 23rd Street) you shared. What happened on the Strand last night was a riot. I personally saw numerous people being kicked on the ground and/or hit with bottles. I saw numerous large groups of people destroy public property and assault innocent bystanders who were on the Strand. It was clearly a riot that spanned several city blocks.

Good gob the police news. Keep up the good work.

7 - 8 years ago it cost 5 dollars and you did not have this stupid stuff. But d.p.s was there to help do the sweep. Bring back the Troopers. And this will not happen.

This kid is not a bad guy. He made a very dumb mistake and used terrible judgement and their is absolutely no justification for what he did. But he IS a good person that you, me, or anybody could trust. He just got caught up at a bad moment during a notoriously crazy celebration that nobody will no the fact of until his day in court. From what I hear it was a RIOT, in which many DRUNK people of ALL ages were involved. And I truly believe it is unfair to post his mugshot and single him out like this when everyone knows that most 20 year olds are still learning kids and don't always use the right or best judgement. Especially when alcohol is involved. Don't worry he will be punished, but DO NOT judge this person when you are not in possession of the full facts and have no idea the kind of person this KID really is. Mardi Gras will go on and life will go on, stupid mistakes were made by drunk people at one of the worlds craziest parties. We all need to just do the adult thing and let this go. This is not the first riot to occur during Mardi Gras and I'd bet my job that it will not be the last. God Bless and Happy Mardi Gras.

Look I know the videos look bad but they really weren't.every one was just having a big dodge ball fight and that was it. No one tried de facing any property or the buildings or even fought for that reason. It was fun to watch

Do the Gal. police or the Sheriff not have riot gear and a response team for these type of events? Awazing.. Where was it? should have been 70 arrests not 7.... Glad no LE was injured. Looks like the police were not prepared for this.. Poor planning at the least...

As always, Mr. Porter is the best media outlet around. We have got to get the hype out for Mr. Porter and help him bring in some advertisement to make the Police News thrive.

Personally I'de like to see the police news replace the galveston daily news. Breck Porter always calls it like it is and prints the real stories. TJ Aulds and the Daily News always seem to only publish stories beneficial to their sponsors, aka Tillman fertita.

Thank You Mr. Porter for always showing us what's really going on in our community.

Cheers to the Galveston Police Department for managing the situation with minimal damage. As for tossing out MG, if you can't stand the heat stay out of the kitchen. A crazy New Orleans event like this is going to attract people who drink too much and make bad decisions. I'm guessing they aren't necessarily bad folks, but they're probably not Sunday school teachers either. It just goes with the territory and could have turned out much, much worse. Again, kudos to police officers for stepping up.

Crime is rampant on this island, please help us! People is murdered constantly, dismemberment of dead bodies, babies burned in microwaves, babies killed by parents stepping the craneous.... the list goes on and on.....

Galveston PD are just as, if not more, incompetent then the idiots who began the riot at the Mardi Gras festivities. They are a joke, and were oblivious to the crimes occurring at the festival in which they were specifically paid to keep under control. Large amounts of people attending this event were robbed of their belongings by incoherent pick-pockets and yet nothing was done about it. Galveston Police Department prefer to turn a blind eye to any significant crimes and prefer to focus on the mere speeding tickets they hunger to issue to drivers. Their withholding and belittling of the true events that occurred last night, including the riot, is just another example of the degradation of our society.

Funny, by videos shown most of riot perpretrators were hispanic and the only poster child shown was white. What's-up with that? I wonder how many illegals or gang members were involve.
As far as the riot damage, it looked pretty mild to me. Kids just let'n off steam in the middle of the road with plastic barrels and guard rails. Little dangerous but not a really big deal.

@Beachbum Well HELLO to you too! :) The shooting event in NOLA didn't come out until after this Police News email. I never said stuff like this didn't happen in MOLA. I stated that "Doubt this happens in NOLA as much as people think it does." No place is perfect with these types of events going on. Just that GPD could probably take a few lessons from NOPD during Mardi Gras. And the city should bring back street sweepers.

First comment I have is toward most of the people commenting on this story: Where in the hell did you go to school? The spelling and grammar Nazi in me is dying to smack all of you with a tack hammer! Second comment I have is: The Police cannot be everywhere all the time. You people have a personal responsibility to not only govern yourselves, but to protect yourselves. Quit relying on the Police to be your guardians. Everyone that participated in this so called "riot" is a bad person with obviously no sense of self-control, or better judgment. You can't blame alcohol anymore than you can blame a gun. It's the person, not the thing, that makes bad decisions. Wake the eff up!

This year's Mardi Gras isn't the worst - only the worst that has been filmed. The police and EMS will tell you that similarly bad events take place almost every year. If Galveston doesn't want this type of behavior in their town, it should not host this type of festival.

Kudos to the Galveston police department! As always, they continue to do an awesome job keeping our island safe! People like the CONCERNED CITIZEN just want to have their cake and eat it too. GPD is far from incompetent. Next thing you know they'll report GPD used too much force or arrested too many people. You can't have it both ways. There will always be negativity out there. Its funny though, wonder who they'll call when they need help?? Way to go GPD!!

SO, some youths decided to play dodge ball in the middle of the street. It got messy, doesn't it always after Mardi Gras? No one was fighting, no one was bleeding, they were just having a good time (if you think tossing bottles and trash cans at each other is fun).
The crime here is the rapes, pickpockets, beatings that take place all over that don't get addressed because the GPD is too busy going after traffic violations for revenue gathering purposes.
Shame on the GPD/GCSO for not having communication procedures in place for the general public.
Glad I didn't take my grandsons down there.

no, this does NOT happen in NO/LA. i was born & raised in NO & spent many Mardi Gras in both NO & surrounding areas attending parades. we don't riot. yes, there has been violence, fights & even shootings, but not riots. and the majority of the wild behavior, like here, is from tourists. this was an unfortunate event, but do not try to link this to NOLA, folks.

People need to actually watch the video. If you watch it in its entirety you can see the crowd hitting each other with trash cans, bottles, and fists. You can see at the end the people coughing because the GPD threw tear gas.

The way the police clear a street during a party is to get on a horse and ride to the end of the street in a line formation. This is normal and you can see it every week on Austin's 6th street bar scene. The police will escalate their crowd control procedures if the crowd does not comply as they did at the Galveston Mardis Gras with arrests or tear gas.
There was NO tear gas dispersed

I watched the videos on you tube and in my opinion, this was a riot against our police officers. I come from a long line of policemen/women in Galveston, Texas, in my family as far back as the late 1800's on through 2010. Back when my dad was an officer in Galveston I believe they would have used fire hoses to disburse the rowdy revelers. I didnt even see where they used tear gas, what is up with that Galveston Police. Is it because you all are afraid of being charged with excessive force? If so, I do understand that, but come on people, the policemen/women need a little assistance here also. I am really surprised there were no stabbings or shootings, or were there?

Excuse me! If the Police didn't throw tear Gas then what was the ingredients in the smoke that was comming out of the canisters that were thrown at the crowd which finally caused them to disperse?

Really.....why blame GCSO.....your new Sheriff was on the job. He was attending Mardi Gras Balls and riding on the Fertita float.

I know him :)

The new Sheriff had this situation under control and called all the shots. He was at the Mardi Gras,On the scene and right there with his troops. His new motto should be. "one riot,one Sheriff"

I watched the video. There was fighting, a girl was bleeding from her face and her arm, there were several people trying to get out of the way. This was more than just some kids playing dodgeball. You could hear the glass breaking and they were tossing the barricades around, which could easily cause serious injuries. This is disgusting behavior. I agree that singling out the white boy who was arrested and posting his picture here is unfair to him. And there was a group chanting fk the police, clearly trying to incite violence. The GPD did a good job putting an end to it without resorting to tear gas and rubber bullets. It's just a shame that we can't enjoy our Galveston Mardi Gras because of this. We stopped going on Saturdays many years ago because of the thugs and the aggressiveness of the crowds. I've been to NOLA Mardi Gras and there is zero tolerance there, you get out of line there and you go straight to jail.

Thanks for reporting on this. I really feel for the Yaga's crew. They worked their butts off to make Mardi Gras happen for Galveston and a bunch of stupid people are ruining it for the rest.

If Gabriel or any of the others from Yaga's are reading this, we still support you! Don't let the dumbasses get you down!

Pro so.....really what promotion or position did you get. Apparently you are a puppet on little Henry's string. Call the shots and on the scene you mean he left Tillman.

Used to be that the police chief/sheriff actually worked the Mardi Gras and didn't attend the balls (even though they all get invited)because the first priority for such a big weekend (especially in their territory)would be to the troops and public safety. I don't care who you are and what you have working for you..... nothing is more important than showing the folks that you are working and not celebrating like everyone else. Big weekends mean all hands on deck - even more so when you have a shortage of patrolman like the GCSO. We all hear they are down by a lot of people over there. Not good! Running short staffed is the first step to low morale.

The police beat the crap out of me for no reason. I walked out of the lounge and had no idea there was a riot happening outside. The next thing I know, I am being slammed to the ground by a cop. He slams my face into the concrete, puts me in hand cuffs, and all most breaks my arms as he is lifting me up off the ground by my handcuffs. I did absoultly nothing wrong. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I got arrested that night/morning. I was one of the seven. Now I have to go to court and pay for a lawyer. Look me up. Zachary Flanagan