Minneapolis police alert to "flash mobs" downtown --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Updated: March 27, 2012 - 12:00 PM
" A sudden, random attack on a group of bicyclists on Nicollet Mall kicked off a melee early Friday evening (3/23/12)that had police pursuing 15 to 20 youths who assaulted two men, rioted at a restaurant patio and eventually fled, according to court documents.
The event unfolded right in front of police officers who were patrolling the pedestrian thoroughfare after "numerous, recent 'flash mobs' of individuals engaging in criminal conduct," according to a criminal complaint.
The other incidents that had police patrolling the street were not described in the complaint, but authorities said they've prompted more surveillance of the busy sidewalks of Nicollet Mall.
In Friday's incident, police officers were monitoring seven youths at a bus stop near the intersection of 5th Street S. and Nicollet Mall, when they saw them "suddenly surge" toward a group of three bicyclists. The youths knocked one man to the ground and broke his jaw. They surrounded another man and beat him.
As officers gave chase, the group fled to a nearby restaurant patio, where one of them picked up a glass candelabra and threw it at one of the bicyclists, missing him.
The officers captured Antonio D. Jones, 20, of Brooklyn Park. He was charged Monday in Hennepin County District Court with felony fifth-degree drug possession, gross-misdemeanor third-degree riot and
and misdemeanor fifth-degree assault."
http://www.startribune.com/local/min...144394085.html