6-May-18 – A large group of teenagers – a few hundred, according to Chicago police and one witness – were involved in fights near the Chicago Water Tower on Michigan Avenue on Saturday night.

Four people were injured and two were arrested.

It started near the entrance to Water Tower Place when about 50 teenagers were fighting at around 8:20 p.m., according to security guards at the shopping mall. The fight crossed Michigan Avenue to Jane M. Byrne Plaza, where the Chicago Water Tower is located.

“These guys are running amok. They knocked an old lady down by Ghiradelli,” a police officer was heard saying, referring to the nearby ice cream and chocolate shop.

A man, described as a tourist, was assaulted and shoved under a horse carriage but he declined medical attention.

(Above) Map of area, with Water Tower Place at upper right.

Shortly after 9 p.m., another fight, described by police as “massive,” broke out near the CTA Red Line station three blocks west of the water tower, near Chicago Avenue & State Street. CTA employees reported 20 to 30 teen males “jumping turnstiles and beating on the kiosk.”

By 10 p.m., most of the crowd had left the downtown area.

One of the two teens arrested was a 16-year-old male who, police say, threw an “unknown liquid substance” in the face of an officer after getting into a “verbal altercation with a door attendant.”

On Monday, Chicago police said the juvenile was from the 5500 block of South Aberdeen Street, near Sherman Park and about six miles south of the Loop. He was charged with one felony count of aggravated battery to a police officer.

The other arrest on Saturday was for theft.