Principal, Councilman Criticize Arrest at Game : Disturbance: Newport Beach police defend handling of incident involving former Estancia High football star.

NEWPORT BEACH —  A high school principal and a city councilman from Costa Mesa on Monday criticized the Newport Beach Police Department’s handling of the weekend arrest of a former Estancia High School football player during halftime of the Estancia-Corona del Mar football game.

The Police Department said its actions were justified.

Estancia is a Costa Mesa high school, and Corona del Mar is in Newport Beach.

The arrest of the 18-year-old came as police were trying to clear non-players from the field and track of the stadium, police said. Police also said some gang members were among a group of Estancia High School fans who came down from the stands and threatened officers who made the arrest.

But on Monday, Estancia High Principal Frank Infusino said the incident “was not a gang issue. . . . Those were just Estancia students concerned about the arrest of a popular former student.” Infusino said Newport Beach police could have avoided an incident by asking him or any other Estancia High School official for help.

Costa Mesa Councilman Jay Humphrey, who attended the game, also criticized how two Newport Beach police made the arrest.

But Newport Beach Police Sgt. Andy Gonis on Monday said police acted correctly and had defused a situation in which an estimated 150 fans, “many identified as gang members,” threatened the two arresting officers on Friday night on the Estancia High School side of the field.

Humphrey criticized the officers for not quickly removing the arrested man from the stadium area. “They had him out there on the grassy area (adjoining the football field), making a much larger spectacle than need be,” Humphrey said. He added that he did not see the incident that led to the arrest and that he was not criticizing the police decision to arrest the man. He said he was only critical of how the arrest was made.

Gonis, who is the spokesman for the Newport Beach Police Department, said: “Mr. Humphrey admits he did not see the initial situation, and therefore we don’t put much value in his observations.”

Gonis said the arrested man, Ricardo Aguilar of Costa Mesa, refused to leave the area near the playing field when the two officers requested him to do so. Gonis said that Aguilar then resisted arrest, used profanity toward the officers, hit one officer in the chest and grabbed the other officer’s leg.

Gonis said that as the two officers were trying to arrest Aguilar, up to 150 people from the Estancia High School side of the stadium came down and threatened the officers.

“There were numerous known gang members on the Estancia side,” Gonis said, adding that many of those who threatened the arresting officers were “dressed in gang attire.” Gonis said tht backup officers were called in and that the group dispersed.

Infusino, the Estancia High School principal, said it was true that some students came down from the Estancia High stands and jeered at the arresting officers. But he said “it was not gang related.” Infusino added: “We want to cooperate with police, but communication works two ways. They could have avoided this incident if they (the police) had just talked to us.”

Infusino said Aguilar was “a star football player last year” at Estancia.

Aguilar on Friday night was booked on suspicion of battery on a police officer and was released after posting $500 bail, Gonis said.