NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. -- Niagara Falls Police and the owners of the Rapids Theatre say a pair of arrests after a party there early Sunday were not the result of "a riot" and are questioning why the incidents were described that way in some media reports.

"This was a normal event and a normal exit," Rapids' owner John Hutchins said of the end of a fraternity Halloween party at around 2:30 a.m. Sunday. "There were no fights, no public disturbances."

Hutchins did admit that near the end of the party there was a "pushing incident" that took place between a party-goer and a bartender.

"One patron had too much to drink and we refused to serve him and that led to a little pushing incident," Hutchins said. "Then he was escorted outside."

Once the man, later identified as Kaiman Lam, 22, 4812 59th St. Apt. 2, Woodside-Queens, was led out of the theater, trouble started. Falls Police said they were flagged down by Rapids security guards, one of whom had Lam pinned up against a wall.

"(A security guard) said he told (Lam) to leave at least 15 times because he was causing a disturbance inside and outside the theater," Officer Michael Tarnowski wrote in his report on the incident. "(Lam) refused all (the security guard's) orders to leave. (Lam) then punched off the rearview mirror of a nearby vehicle. After several more orders (to leave, Lam) punched (the security guard) in the chest."

Officers later discovered that the car Lam had damaged belonged to an employee of the Rapids Theatre.

Tarnowski said he took Lam's "information" to prepare a police report on the damaged vehicle and noted that Lam was "highly intoxicated." The officer said he repeatedly told Lam to leave the area, but he refused.

"Why?" Lam asked. "We just chillin' with friends and (expletive). We're just having a good time."

Lam was then taken into custody and charged with criminal trespass.

At the time of Lam's arrest, officers estimated that the crowd leaving the Rapids was "approximately 1,200 people," greatly outnumbering the six Falls police officers and two supervisors who were on the scene. Officers requested additional assistance and officers from the Town of Niagara, New York Park Police and New York State Police responded.

Falls officers called the crowd "rowdy" and "refusing to disperse."

Hutchins said the crowd was no different than folks leaving a Sabres game or closing the bars on Chippewa Street in Buffalo's nightclub district.

"This was a fraternity Halloween party, it's a national event that's held every year," he said. "It was held here last year, they had such a good time they came back this year. These are not 'Animal House' fraternity people. These are very good people who travel across the country for this event."

Just after Lam's arrest, police took another party-goer into custody. Roving Anti-Crime Unit Officers Rick Fleck and Kevin Maluchnik ordered Khanha Phakousonh, 28, 212 Wild Lilac Lane, Irvine, Calif., to the leave the area in front of the Rapids, but he refused.

The RAC officers said as a large crowd watched, Phakousonh yelled at them "(Expletive) you! You (expletive) head. You and security can (expletive)."

When Fleck told Phakousonh he was under arrest, he tried to walk away yelling, "(Expletive) you, (expletive)."

As Fleck and Maluchnick went to grab Phakousonh, the suspect tried to tuck his arms under his chest to avoid being handcuffed. The officers then took Phakousonh to the ground and continued to fight with him.

Fleck said a crowd gathered around the officers as they fought with Phakousonh and "were yelling at (Phakousonh) to stop resisting and let police do their job."

Phakousonh responded by yelling, "Someone film this (expletive). This is police brutality."

Police said they were finally able to take Phakousonh into custody and charged him with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Some reports said the incident was similar to one on July 4 that saw six police agencies and more than 30 officers called to the theater to quell an incident involving between 1,000 to 1,200 people that resulted in five arrests on charges ranging from disorderly conduct and resisting arrest to obstruction of governmental administration, inciting a riot and unlawful assembly.

During the July incident, a Rapids bartender suffered a broken nose, while a party-goer suffered a broken leg. Also, a Buffalo man was shot in the parking lot behind the former Slipko's that night and another man suffered a severe but non-life threatening stab wound.

"July 4th was an incident that hit the top of the mountain of what could go wrong," Falls Police Superintendent John Chella said. "Nobody said (Sunday) was (the same type of incident). I don't know where that comparison would have come from."

The top cop said the Sunday morning incident did not have any of the kinds of injuries that occurred at the summer-time melee.

"We didn't have a shooting, we didn't have a stabbing, we didn't have people hitting each other with 2-by-4s," Chella said. "There's no comparison (to the July 4 incident). Absolutely none."

Chella did say the department has forwarded information about the incident to the State Liquor Authority.

"We have to do that and we instruct our officers to do that (after incidents at establishments that serve alcohol)," Chella said.

While Hutchins admitted he was not pleased with the report to the Liquor Authority, he also said he is looking into hiring some off-duty, uniformed Falls police officers to provide additional security outside the theater at future parties.

"I asked Chief Chella about hiring a couple of uniform officers to be outside and provide a greater sense of security and he said he'd approve that," Hutchins said.

Copyright 2011 - Niagara Gazette, Niagara Falls, N.Y.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service