Two arrested after hostile crowd forms around Springfield officer

Two people were arrested Tuesday night after police say a large fight in a gas station parking lot turned into a Springfield police officer surrounded by a hostile crowd.

Lt. Eric Reece with the Springfield Police Department said police were dispatched at 9:20 p.m. to reports of a large group of people fighting in the parking lot of the Fast-N-Friendly at 1451 N. Kansas Expressway.

When the first officer arrived, a man ran from the scene. The officer pursued him, witnessing him throw something into a nearby yard, Reece said.

Reece said the officer used a Taser on the male and attempted to take him into custody when the group of people began to crowd around the officer in a threatening manner.

More officers arrived around this time, and began trying to disperse the crowd around the officer, Reece said. They were eventually successful, and most of the participants in the initial fight left.

Two people were taken into police custody, Reece said — the man who ran from police, who was arrested for his involvement in the fight and possession of a weapon, and a woman arrested for assaulting a law enforcement officer.

Dozens of police cars from Springfield, Strafford and Battlefield responded to the situation and filled the gas station’s parking lot even after the fight was over.

The arrested woman, who Reece said had been pepper sprayed by police, could be heard screaming “I didn’t put my hands on nobody” and that her “eyes are burning.”

Officers occasionally went into the gas station to fill cups with water to pour on the woman’s face in an effort to relieve her pain, but her screams could still be heard across the parking lot after she was loaded into the back of a police wagon.

Reece said the initial responding officer suffered no injuries.