Sunday, April 2, 2006 --- Around 11:51 PM Saturday night, several East Ridge and Chattanooga police officers were dispatched to the Rave Theater on South Terrace in East Ridge when security officers on duty there reported fights were breaking out on the parking lot.
As many as three separate fights were going on at one time on the parking lot. The fights were spread out from the front entrance of the theater to the Goodwill Store and the Dollar Store. No fights were reported inside the theater building.
An employee of the theater was injured with trauma to the back of the head and was unconscious for a few moments as paramedics with the Memorial EMS sped to the scene. The injured man was taken to East Ridge Hospital in fair condition.
At least one person was held at gunpoint by police officers while backup officers were en route.
While East ridge police officers handled the crowd in front the Rave, which is in the City of East Ridge, Chattanooga police handled the youths that had moved from the theater parking lot to the parking area at the nearby Sears Essentials store. Several youths were taken into custody and transported to jail or the Hamilton County Juvenile Detention Center, depending on age.
Most all of those fighting were black youths and most all had been to see the movie ATL, a PG-13 movie about black street youths in Atlanta including two rap scenes.
As other movies ended, movie patrons were told to go straight to their cars and leave. Police had the situation under control by about 12:15 a.m.
Nooga.com reported earlier this week officials at Northgate Mall had arranged for extra security while ATL was being shown at the mall. One witness said there was obviously extra security at the Rave including off-duty police officers
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