Officials Continue Investigation Into Morgantown Riots
MORGANTOWN (KDKA) - When the WVU football team won this weekend, fans went wild. They lit fires, pushed over street lights and threw rocks, beer bottles and other items at police.
Now, the university wants to know who was responsible.
Morgantown officials, police and West Virginia University will spend the day today debriefing after the riot-like behavior this weekend.
They're also continuing to review social media posts and video to try and identify others involved.
"Every game day there are these possibilities that it escalates to the point that it's uncontrollable," City Manager Jeff Mikorski said.
Despite their efforts, Morgantown Police said crowds started to exhibit riot-like behavior and set fires hours after WVU's win against Baylor.
"I think it's reputation. We came here and everyone was like, 'Let's burn some couches.' So, what did we do? We burned some couches," one student said.
"They flipped the dumpster, dumped everything out of it and proceeded to push it down the street and there's our dumpster right now," WVU student Darrell Nguess-Gbe said.
Police said they had to use pepper spray on the crowds after bottles and rocks were thrown at officers and police vehicles.
"It becomes stressful for everyone involved, especially the firefighters and police officers, trying to get control of the situation when the crowds continue to escalate and increase around them," Mikorski said.
Several people were arrested, but the investigation isn't over as officials are now looking to social media.
"If we have the names and they're university students, the next thing we do is take disciplinary action against them," WVU Dean of Students Corey Farris said.
Mikorski said the city is also looking at a bill that would ban upholstered furniture from outdoor areas, saying while that won't stop the behavior, it may take away some of the fuel.
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