On Saturday night, four people were arrested during a “teen takeover” at Hyde Park.
Around 8 p.m., approximately 50 teens arrived on 53rd Street. A heavy police presence was already in place ahead of the event, with dozens of patrol cars parked between South Woodlawn Avenue and South Lake Park Avenue. At least two helicopters were also seen in the neighborhood.
Officers began hauling people in for arrest at 9:30 p.m. At 10:07 p.m., officers were spotted handcuffing youngsters and loading them into the back of a van outside Capital One Café on South Harper Avenue. A Chicago Police Department (CPD) officer on the scene informed the Maroon that officers were enforcing the city’s 10 p.m. youth curfew in the neighborhood.
According to CPD, the arrests were of two 15-year-old boys, a 16-year-old girl, and an 18-year-old guy.
One of the 15-year-old males faces charges of assault, obstruction of traffic, and resisting arrest. The 16-year-old girl faces one count of reckless conduct and three charges of resisting arrest.
The adult and another 15-year-old were charged with reckless conduct.
Teen takeovers, which are enormous gatherings of teens planned primarily through social media, have been popular in Chicago for many years. In 2022, a 16-year-old was shot and died in a gathering of youngsters gathered at Millennium Park. A gunshot last month injured a 15-year-old child at a similar gathering in Streeterville, prompting officials to reexamine earlier youth curfew hours. On April 1, a teen was charged in another shooting related to the March 9 adolescent takeover in Streeterville.
Social media posts regarding a Hyde Park invasion started circulating on Instagram earlier this month. Screenshots from the now-defunct Instagram handle thekidfrmchicag0 reveal posts advertising a “Hyde Park CIRCUS” on April 12 near 51st Street and South Lake Park Avenue, with guests instructed to assemble at Kenwood Academy High School. The post was also shared on the local Facebook page Hyde Park Classics, where neighbors voiced concern about the trend spreading to their neighborhood.
On Thursday, CPD issued a warning to Chicago Public Schools parents, encouraging them to keep their children away from the teen gatherings and warning that “de-escalation and dispersal techniques” would be used to “encourage our young people to comply with the law.”
A Saturday morning email from the Kenwood Academy administration to the school’s parents explained that stories regarding the incident on the high school’s campus were incorrect.
“We received an inaccurate report from the Citizen app that an event was happening on Kenwood Academy’s campus,” the email read. “This incident did not occur at Kenwood Academy High School and does not involve any of our students. Our students at the school are safe and sound and continue to be engaged in their Saturday programs.”
This is a developing story.