Crowd of more than 600 high school students causes 'Beach Bash' commotion on Bradenton Beach

BRADENTON BEACH -- Word of the Bradenton Beach party spread like wildfire through texts and social media exchanges between high school students in Manatee County. By Wednesday afternoon, roughly 650 teens were hanging out at Coquina Beach with police having to break up at least one fight and clear the parking lot.

Bradenton Beach officer Tom Ferrara, on scene, said police learned from lifeguards Wednesday morning a large group of students was expected to come to the beach on spring break. The officer said sometimes few show up despite such expectations.

Hundreds of students filled Coquina Beach this time, however, and a fight broke out around 4:40 p.m. Ferrara said when police arrived, about 100 students began shifting farther down the path parallel to the Coquina Beach parking lot.

No arrests were made.

"Nobody would tell us anything," Ferrara said. "I'm assuming it was females fighting because there's two different weaves in peoples' hands, who were holding up the weaves, and the girls were all gone."

The officer said no one wanted to report the incident. Past the cliques of students lay a clump of brown and bright red hair weaves.

According to Ferrara, some high school students set up a generator to play loud music, which is prohibited.

"We immediately put an end to that once it started," he said.

Ferrara said police began receiving calls of reckless driving from the Manatee County Sheriff's Office. The officer said the students came from Manatee, Southeast and Palmetto high schools.

"We believe this originated from Palmetto," he said. "Somebody from Palmetto High School, what we heard, originally started this."

The windshield of the patrol vehicle of Bradenton Beach officer Roy A. Joslin was spit on while officers were silencing the music.

"We get crowds like this. They think they're being cool in front of their buddies," Ferrara said.

Nearby, Zaira Cantu, 14, stood with her friend, Katia Sanchez, 15, and another friend under a tall tree. The three had been at Coquina Beach since noon.

"People just started texting each other and stuff, saying 'Are you going to Beach Bash?'" said Zaira.

The trio said they were returning from the concession stand when the fight broke out.

"We weren't able to see anything," Zaira said.

The party at the beach was a first for the three friends.

"I actually expected more," Zaira said. "At first, it was getting there and then the police shut off the music and then it was kind of like, 'Oh...'"

"Boring," Katia completed her friend's sentence.

Cedric Robinson of Southeast High said he arrived at the party around 4:30 p.m. after learning of it through Facebook.

The 16 year old said he and other high school students are drawn to the public beach during spring break because of the water and the opportunity to get together with friends.

"I don't know how to explain it, but it's a nice view," he said, gesturing toward the beach with his right hand.

Bradenton Beach Police Chief Sam Speciale said it was a long day for his agency. He said people come from all over the world to spend spring break on Anna Maria Island and most respect the area.

"Then we get our local kids out here acting a little crazy and they're disrespecting their hometown," he said. "Kids are kids. Teenagers are teenagers. We want them to have a great time out here, but they need to act accordingly."

By 5 p.m., police officers were working to clear the parking lot at the public beach.

Jessica De Leon, Herald law enforcement reporter, contributed to this report.

Amaris Castillo, law enforcement/island reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7051. Follow her on Twitter @AmarisCastillo.

This story was originally published March 23, 2016 at 11:28 PM with the headline "Crowd of more than 600 high school students causes 'Beach Bash' commotion on Bradenton Beach ."