Bike party takes over Safeway parking lot in San Jose and harassed residents
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Some residents in the Willow Glen area of San Jose say they were caught off guard when a group of bike riders harassed innocent bystanders in a Safeway parking lot. Police say the incident happened on Saturday afternoon.
KTVU spoke with Erin Ronan, who says the group threw objects at people, ran into the Safeway to take items and damaged cars. She says she was at this nail shop when it happened and shot cell phone video of what she could see.
"At first, I just thought it was one of the bike parties but it very quickly, within a matter of minutes, was clear that it was not," said Ronan.
Erin Ronan says around 1 o'clock Saturday afternoon, she witnessed a large group of teenagers and some adults with motorized bikes in the Safeway parking lot on Bird Avenue. She says some of them ran into the Safeway grocery store to grab items as employees tried to stop them.
"They also were jumping on top of cars. I witnessed them throw rocks and food at a woman who was all by herself, and they broke her windshield," said Ronan.
San Jose police say they received reports of a large bike party taunting residents, and several people were hit by rocks and other objects, but none were injured. Ronan says the group also used smoke bombs in the parking lot. The woman Ronan saw being attacked did not want to be identified, but she sent these photos of her bruised arm and car damage she says were caused by the group.
"I couldn't leave. I felt helpless because I wanted to go help the woman that was all by herself in the car, but clearly, I could not have done anything with that large of a crowd. I felt terrible for the Safeway employees; many of them were young," said Ronan.
Police say some of the teens were still in the parking lot when they arrived, but no arrests were made. They also canvased the area in search of others who may have been involved. Bibo's Pizza is also in the shopping plaza and the owner says he and his staff were inside working when it all happened, but he heard the commotion.
"So, I'd like to think there were probably some bad apples in that group. I don't know if they're part of the group or tagging along or what, but that isn't the norm when they visit. They've been here about a half dozen times that I can recall. So, I was very surprised by that and extremely disappointed to see that," said Freddie Elian, Bibo's Pizza Owner.
San Jose police patrolled the parking lot on Monday and the manager of the Safeway chose not to comment.
Police are still investigating, but people told KTVU they've seen a lot of criticism online about police response. However, they believe that San Jose Police secured the scene as soon as they could and kept people safe.
