Police make arrests on Phish weekend

PHOTOGRAPHER: Tatiana Zarnowski

The weekend’s Phish concerts resulted in dozens of arrests as thousands of people descended on Saratoga Performing Arts Center for three nights of the popular jam band.

Saratoga Springs police officers were so overloaded that many of the arrests still hadn’t been entered into the agency’s arrest module by Monday afternoon, said city police spokesman Lt. John Catone.

City police made about 50 arrests, though not all were concert-related. Officers set up special traffic patrols and stopped about 75 vehicles throughout the weekend, some of which resulted in drunken driving or drug arrests, Catone said.

“There were a lot of drugs.”

Police made many of the traffic stops on Broadway, Union Avenue, Route 9 and South Broadway, according to the police blotter.

The blotter also shows several complaints of people sleeping in the bushes or alleys around the city, as well as a naked man in a field on Route 9.

State park police enforce the law inside the park and the concert venue and typically process at least as many arrests as city police. Their arrests were not available Monday; many of the people charged over the weekend will be processed in Saratoga Springs City Court today.

Saratoga Hospital saw 45 patients from the Phish concerts throughout the weekend, mostly with illnesses brought on by drugs and alcohol, said hospital spokeswoman Ellen Kerness. One of the patients was transferred to Albany Medical Center.

State police made three drug arrests Friday night, all related to the Phish concert, said spokesman Trooper Mark Cepiel.

In one incident, two Rochester men were arrested on drug charges after a traffic stop on Route 9 in Malta yielded prescription narcotics, ecstasy, hashish, the anesthetic ketamine and marijuana, police said.

The driver, Geoffrey Haller, 22, was charged with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, fifth-degree criminal possession, five counts of seventh-degree possession and unlawful possession of marijuana.

Cody Burns, also 22, was charged with two counts of third-degree criminal possession and one count of seventh-degree criminal possession.

They were both arraigned in Town of Ballston Court and sent to Saratoga County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail or $50,000 bail bond.

Another state police traffic stop on Route 9 in Malta led to Andrew Martin, 28, of Orlando, Fla., being charged with two counts of third-degree criminal possession and two counts of fifth-degree criminal possession.

Police said Martin had LSD on candy and as a powder, as well as narcotics and a stimulant in his possession.

Martin was arraigned in the Town of Ballston Court and sent to Saratoga County Jail in lieu of $25,000 cash bail or $50,000 bond.

State police help out in the Saratoga Springs area when needed, but generally cover the surrounding areas that don’t have a police force such as Malta and the town of Saratoga, Cepiel said.

Troopers monitored Lee’s Campground in the town of Saratoga, a popular camping spot for Phish fans. They got no calls to respond there during the weekend, he said.