Holiday proves calmer than expected

Even though officers arrested more than 100 people in Newport Beach over the Fourth of July weekend, the holiday didn’t quite live up to law enforcement’s expectations of raucousness.

The department had geared up for the worst, expecting a larger-than-usual influx of partiers because Independence Day fell on a three-day weekend.

But when it came down to it, police took 115 people into custody between 6 p.m. July 3 and 6 a.m. July 5 — fewer than last year’s 124.

“This year we were actually down,” said Newport Beach police spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella, “which was surprising given that this was a Friday, warm day, beautiful weather.”

The holiday inevitably draws crowds to the beach, but it’s the drunken revelry on the Balboa Peninsula that the department has been trying to tame for years.

Previous festivities prompted street closures and a temporary command post in the area, but last year police stopped shutting down traffic in the heaviest party zones, and this year, they ran all operations from their standard headquarters.

“We’ve been working for several years toward having a more normal peninsula on the Fourth of July,” Manzella said.

The holiday was still a mandatory workday for all officers and, as is usually the case on the Fourth, the vast majority of their arrests were alcohol-related.

The only major incident that Manzella said she was aware of was a crash along West Coast Highway that left a flaming car on the center divider and another car resting on the sidewalk against a cinder block wall around 3 a.m. Saturday.

“But there were no injuries, miraculously,” Manzella said.

Police are still investigating the cause but believe speed and alcohol were factors.

Officers arrested both drivers — Gershom Byass III, 24, of Highland and Jimmy Garcia, 21, of Riverside — on suspicion of driving under the influence.

“All in all, a relatively quiet Fourth of July compared to what we had planned for,” Manzella said.

In Costa Mesa, police arrested only three people Friday, and firefighters say they had a mostly calm night.

Crews responded to some minor calls regarding trash-can fires and other small emergencies related to fireworks, Battalion Chief Kevin Diamond said.

One of the most significant incidents was a palm tree that caught on fire, probably from an aerial rocket, Diamond said.

A single-engine crew responded to the 300 block of Rochester Street around 9 p.m. and handled the small blaze, he said.