Hundreds of arrests at unofficial Jeep event in Texas

An unofficial annual event for Jeep vehicle enthusiasts at a Texas beach became so unruly that 230 people were arrested.

The Crystal Beach area of the Bolivar Peninsula has became a yearly meeting spot for Jeep  fans and an ever-increasing number of partygoers, who spend four days by the Gulf of Mexico, drinking, listening to music and having a good time.   The unofficial event – known mostly through word of mouth – involves tens of thousands of people flocking to the beach in Jeeps and other vehicles.

Things, though, got out of hand, with police officers arresting more than 200 people, mostly on misdemeanour charges.

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“This event is usually very taxing on our resources,” said Major Ray Nolen of the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office. He added that more than 120 officers were at the event.

The event started out as a gathering solely for Jeep fans, but that has changed over the past few years, with more and more people being attracted to the event who have no affiliation with Jeeps.

In fact, official Jeep clubs have stopped going to the event and meet elsewhere in Texas, but their places have been taken by the non-fans who see the four-day meeting as a time to go wild.

The event has become ever more notorious as the years pass by, with hospitalisations and arrests commonplace, while there have also been a couple of deaths, in 2019 and 2021.

Just last year, a sheriff’s deputy sergeant’s legs and an arm were broken after he was hit by a car while directing traffic, according to local TV station KTRK.

This year, emergency crews responded to approximately 65 service calls on Crystal Beach, according to Nolen, while EMS workers took about 40 people to the hospital “for various minor injuries and illnesses”.

“We’re just trying to maintain order and keep everybody safe,” Nolen said.