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Mayor to Kings Fans: "If you engage in violence tonight, the LAPD will find you and arrest you"
Photo by Michael Zampelli via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
Kings fans, you've been warned to behave, and now the mayor and the cops want to let you know they mean business. If the team wins the Stanley Cup tonight in game four of the series here in Los Angeles, rowdy fans who cause a ruckus on the streets can expect to find their butts hauled to jail either at the scene or after the fact.
In a press conference held this afternoon, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is driving the point home that tearing up Downtown is beyond not cool, and it's going to get you in t-r-o-u-b-l-e, according to City News Service.
"If you engage in violence tonight, the LAPD will find you and arrest you and you will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law," cautioned Villaraigosa.
The mayor referenced the violence that erupted after the Los Angeles Lakers took home the NBA championship win in 2010, and the recent arrest of one of the suspects who took part in a fiery attack on a taxicab.
Fans attending tonight's big game against the New Jersey Devils as well as anyone in the L.A. Live area can expect to see hundreds of officers would be stationed in and around Staples Center during and after the game.
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck wants fans to consider the streets around the venue off-limits: "I encourage everybody to celebrate the Kings victory tonight,'' Beck said. "Do it responsibly. Do it at home. Do it at an appropriate venue. You're not going to do it on the streets in front of Staples Center."
Of course, we're putting the cart before the proverbial horse here. First, the Kings have to beat the Devils before we celebrate.
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