Battery: University Avenue
Madison Police arrested a man for battery on the 600 block of University Avenue at around 1 a.m. Sunday after he initiated multiple fights with another man.
Police found Deon Pickett, a 24-year-old Chicago native, fighting with another 24 year-old man outside of University Avenue establishments, according to a Madison Police Department statement. An officer told them to stop fighting, which they did briefly, but then Pickett attacked the other man and the two continued to fight, according to the statement.
The police broke up the fight, but Pickett attempted to start the fight again, which caused an officer to pepper spray Pickett, the statement said. He attempted to run away, but the police chased him down and arrested him for battery, according to the statement.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said he did not think anyone was hospitalized as a result of the fight. He said, according to eyewitnesses, the people who were fighting were loitering on the sidewalk and not patronizing any local establishment.
“[This incident] is the latest, frustrating example of street fights occurring in that part of the downtown on weekend nights,” Verveer said.
Verveer said that night, in addition to the regular police patrol, an extra 20 police officers were patrolling the downtown area because of the Mifflin Street Block Party.
Weapons Violation: University Avenue
A woman arrived at a Madison area hospital shortly after midnight Sunday with a stab wound on her face, saying two people attacked her on the 600 block of University Avenue.
An MPD statement said the 21-year-old victim said she got into a fight with another woman she knew, and the woman cut the victim with an edged weapon. She said a man, who was with the female suspect, pushed the victim to the ground and dragged her by her hair into a nearby alley, according to the statement.
The statement said the victim could give police few details of the suspects, and a surveillance video in the area where the victim said she was attacked did not show her version of events.
Verveer said the hospital reported the incident because hospital workers are required to let the police know of anyone who comes to the hospital and appears to be the victim of a crime.
“You’d think with so many people out Saturday night there would be some witnesses or somebody calling 911 or the cops on patrol there would have seen something,” Verveer said.
Weapons Violation: Langdon Street
Madison police arrested a man near Lake Mendota on Langdon Street at 6 p.m. Sunday evening, after he shot a gun as part of an alleged attempt to hunt ducks on the lake.
Samuel Hennessey,18, caused a concerned local resident to call MPD after seeing him shooting at ducks in the lake, according to an MPD statement. Officers heard shots being fired when they were arriving to the scene and arrested Hennessey at gunpoint, the statement said.
The statement said the suspect was using a pellet gun and had a bipod system attached to it. MPD found no dead or wounded ducks in the area, the statement said.
Hennessey has been charged with a discharge of firearms violation and discharging a firearm within city limits. Police also charged Hennessey with intentionally carrying an ID that was not his.
MPD spokesperson Joel DeSpain said the Department of Natural Resources could also cite him because the DNR does not allow hunting ducks outside their hunting season.
“You can’t shoot there,” he said. “There are hunting regulations.”
