A Busy Fourth Of July: Alton Police, Other Agencies Calm Several After Fights, Officers Arrest One After Shots Fired On Johnson Street

ALTON - The Alton Police had a busy night on Saturday evening into Sunday morning, with several reported incidents, most in Belle Meadows, Alton Police Chief Jason Simmons said.

“We did make a couple arrests after fights Saturday into Sunday morning,” Chief Simmons said. “We also had fireworks calls and domestic calls on the Fourth of July. We had a large fight around 3 in Belle Meadows in the morning that we handled ourselves.

"Then around 4:12 a.m., we had another rather large fight in Belle Meadows when fighting and fireworks got a little out of control. We called for mutual aid assistance from Jersey, Wood River, East Alton and Bethalto to control everything. That situation finally cleared around 6 a.m.”

Simmons said 150-200 people were actively engaged in the activities at Belle Meadows Saturday night to Sunday morning.

Around 2:30 a.m. Sunday, officers were made aware of shots fired on Johnson Street in Alton. Alton Police were close by and after a short pursuit, had that person in custody.

Chief Simmons thanked the outside agencies for their help in the chaos. He also said the Alton Police officers did an outstanding job calming the situations.

“The officers did a phenomenal job,” he said. “It was an unbelievably busy night. The Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve are two of our busiest nights of the year in Alton.”Chris Rhodes also contributed to this story.

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