South Windsor

Men Try to Remove Sand Placed at South Windsor Skate Park to Keep People From Gathering: Police

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Soon after covering a skate park with sand to prevent large groups from gathering, South Windsor police said they responded to the park after two men tried to remove sand so they could use it.

South Windsor closed areas of congregation within the parks and put the sand down after seeing large groups of youth gathering despite the order to maintain social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"We had gone there several times and asked people to leave. Ultimately, they kept coming back in bigger numbers," Sgt. Mark Cleverdon, of South Windsor Police, said.

The town dumped the sand on the park on Wednesday, thinking that would keep people from using it.

Just after 4:30 p.m. Thursday, police were called to respond to the skate park after someone reported seeing two men sweeping the sand off the skate park.

Police stopped a vehicle attempting to leave and said the two men in the vehicle confirmed they were trying to remove the sand from the skate park so they could use it.

“They had shovels in the back of their car, so they were moving it, but I don’t know how long before this complainant showed up and saw what they were doing,” Cleverdon said.

The two men were issued simple trespass infractions.

Making arrests and issuing citations related to social gathers are not something police said they want to do, but they are ready to do again if necessary.

“That is not the first choice, but it is something we are willing to do to make sure people are maintaining social distancing and physical distancing during these times,” Cleverdon said.

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