3 Arrested, 150 Teens Kicked Off St. Pete Pier Christmas Night: Police

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Three teens were arrested Christmas night after a fight broke out in the area of the St. Pete Pier, Ken Knight, a public information specialist with the St. Petersburg Police Department, told Patch by email. No injuries were reported.

Patch requested copies of the arrest reports. SPPD said these reports can't be shared under state law because of the teens' ages.

There were at least 150 youths kicked off the Pier following the incident, a Patch reporter at the scene estimated.

“What I’m told is a large but typical size crowd of young people and teenagers visited the Pier and downtown area on a holiday,” Knight said. “I’m told it is a typical holiday evening in the downtown area.”

By 10 p.m., many of the teens were standing in groups along Second Avenue NE, near South Straub Park, just across the street from the Pier, as well as along Beach Drive NE, according to the reporter. There was also a heavy police presence, with at least 10 police vehicles and at least 20 officers in the area.

While walking the Pier between 10 and 10:30 p.m., the Patch reporter heard officers telling the teens the Pier was closed for the night, although there were still others strolling along and enjoying the popular tourist destination.

When asked what time the Pier typically closes on a Monday night, an officer told Patch that it wasn’t actually closed, they just didn’t want the teens to return.

The incident started about an hour earlier, around 9:30 p.m., a witness told Patch.

“I saw hundreds of people running, all teenagers,” Pauline, who was visiting the Pier with her family and didn’t want her last name published, said.

She said the teens ran from the area of The Mall at the Sundial, at 153 Second Ave. NE, down to the Pier. Earlier, she and her children had been at the playground but moved over to the side with the boat ramp just before the incident started.

There were already police officers at the Pier when she and her family got there, but about five minutes after she saw the teens running, Pauline heard police sirens.

“We saw kids flying blocks and blocks and blocks,” she said, noting that her family decided to stay where they were as hundreds descended on the Pier. “I said, ‘Well, wait, it could be a shooting. We don’t know.’”

Eventually, when the incident died down, her family walked further down the Pier to enjoy the holiday light displays and then went home.

By about midnight, many of the teens had gravitated toward the Sundial and were standing across the street from it as officers told them they couldn’t stand on the same side of the road as the dining and shopping destination, the Patch reporter noted.

Patch has asked St. Pete police for additional information about this incident and will update the story when they respond.