42 arrested, 14 injured at annual Deltopia spring break party in Isla Vista

More than 40 people were arrested and 14 were injured during an annual spring break party in Santa Barbara County, authorities said Sunday.

Known as Deltopia, the raucous street party held Saturday is popular among the mostly UC Santa Barbara students who live in the seaside enclave of Isla Vista, adjacent to the campus.

This year, police broke up about a dozen large gatherings in Isla Vista, tended to a 22-year-old woman who fell from a balcony, and arrested a teen who barricaded himself in a home for a half hour, according to Kelly Hoover, a spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.

Authorities had seen the barricaded suspect, Arod Rahim, 19, about 2 p.m. with what appeared to be an open container, but he resisted arrest, causing a sheriff’s deputy to fall and suffer a broken hand, Hoover said.

Rahim, a UCSB student, then ran into a home and refused to come out, police alleged. He was later detained by a sheriff’s K-9 unit and booked on charges of resisting arrest and causing injuries to a peace officer, Hoover said.

The deputy was treated at the hospital for injuries and was released.

Early Saturday morning, a fight broke out at a house party and deputies detained three men from Los Angeles County on charges of battery and battery with bodily injuries: Kyle Deville, 23, of Lancaster; Kameron Ramsey, 21, of Palmdale; and Antuan Malone, 26, of Pacoima.

In addition to the 42 people arrested, 68 others received citations for underage drinking, overcrowding and other violations.

Between 6,000 and 8,000 people are estimated to have attended this year’s Deltopia, roughly double the number of attendees in 2016.

Still, attendance was far lower than in 2014, when more than 20,000 revelers crowded into the student neighborhood and violence erupted. A sheriff’s deputy was injured, police vehicles were damaged, and authorities used tear gas, pepper spray and flash-bang grenades to control the crowd. That year, 130 people were arrested and nearly 200 others received citations, Hoover said.

This year, the crowds started to diminish after 6 p.m., when a noise ordinance took effect, and a 7 p.m. concert at UCSB pushed revelers away from the neighborhood.

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Twitter: @MattHjourno

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