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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
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Cops Use Pepper Spray to Break Up Latest McCarren Pool Fight

By Meredith Hoffman | July 18, 2012 10:34am | Updated on July 18, 2012 4:44pm
A lifeguard presided over the pool.
A lifeguard presided over the pool.
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Jude Domski

WILLIAMSBURG — Police arrested three men at McCarren Pool Tuesday night for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, officials said, adding to a string of incidents at the newly reopened swimming mecca.

Police used pepper spray on at least one suspect, according to the blog A Walk in the Park, which first reported the incident.

Cops said they arrested Antquan Lomax, 23, for harassment, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest; and Ronald Crouthers, 24, and Jaamar Gordons, 24, for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, at 6:37 p.m. — less than 30 minutes before the closing time.

The young men kept jumping into the pool despite signs prohibiting jumping, and the pool's lifeguards asked the men to stop jumping but they still refused, a law enforcement source told DNAinfo.com New York.

Then police officers seized the men and Lomax pushed Deputy Inspector Terence Hurson of Williamsburg's 94th Precinct and started "yelling and shouting obscenities," the source continued.

Crouthers, meanwhile, stood between Hurson and Lomax to prevent Lomax's arrest, and Gordon "was swinging his arms, shouting and screaming," according to the source.

The defendants were still awaiting their arraignment at Brooklyn Criminal Court on Wednesday.

The incident, on one of the hottest days of the year, was the latest in a string of fights, arrests, thefts, security complaints, and evacuations since the pool reopened June 28 after a $50 million renovation.

Police increased security July 4 after the first arrests at the pool.