ISLA VISTA, Calif. — The scene Monday on Del Playa Drive was a curious, uniquely Isla Vista mix: part laid-back beach vibe, part riot aftermath.
Beach towels fluttered over cliffside balconies as UC Santa Barbara students enjoyed spring weather. Dumpsters overflowed with beer boxes and red cups.
"I was in the riot," one young woman said nonchalantly to her friend as they rode beach cruisers.
"I got hit by a tear gas grenade," a male student told his friends as they carried an inflatable pool over their heads.
They were talking about Deltopia, a social media-fueled street party that spun out of control Saturday night, leaving a sheriff's deputy seriously injured and more than 100 people arrested.
The eruption of violence was nothing new for unincorporated Isla Vista, a densely packed, student-dominated community where the average age is 23 and officials have struggled for decades to curb sporadic bouts of Bacchanalia.
"We've been dealing with this issue one way or another for the last 45 years," Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said. "There's been problems and challenges in Isla Vista that don't exist elsewhere in the country."
Last year, authorities received 440 calls during Deltopia, and a visiting student from Cal State Poly San Luis Obispo was found dead in the surf after falling off the cliff.
The estimated 22,000 residents of Isla Vista, 60% of whom are UC Santa Barbara students, often blame incidents on outsiders. But the campus' student president sent an email to students Monday saying that they need to take responsibility.
"Yes, it is true that much of the crime that happens is connected to out-of-towners, but who invites these people into our town?" Jonathan Abboud wrote. "We do. It is perfectly OK to celebrate holidays such as Deltopia, but we must consider that inviting our seven best friends from high school does tend to contribute to the problem."
Like the area's raucous Halloween celebrations, Deltopias are not organized events as much as calls to come and party, now trumpeted on social media.
"We have asked over and over if [backers] want to come forward and take responsibility" for getting permits, County Supervisor Doreen Farr said Monday. "And nobody has been willing to do that.
"It's clear that unsponsored events just have to end," Farr added. "When you have thousands of people congregate, up to 15,000, it's just inviting chaos."
Still, Farr said she saw students out in force Sunday cleaning up, appalled at what happened.
The most serious trouble began about 9:30 p.m. Saturday. Sheriff's deputies were breaking up a fight on Del Playa Drive and trying to make an arrest when one officer was hit on the head with a backpack full of liquor bottles. He suffered a significant head injury and required 20 stitches, sheriff's spokeswoman Kelly Hoover said.
As the officers tried to help their injured colleague, the crowd threw rocks, bricks and bottles at them, Hoover said. Four deputies were injured, and many others were struck.
"The community is still trying to come to grasp that people were throwing objects at our law enforcement who are there to protect them," Hoover said. "It just doesn't make any sense."
Clayton Yantzer, 19, a UC Riverside sophomore, said he came for the party and felt things begin to break down by sunset. Law enforcement presence was heavy and aggressive.
"You've got drunk 20-year-olds that just want to hang out, and all they're being told is 'No, no no,'" he said.
Yantzer watched little moments escalate. A man stole a pizza from a Domino's delivery man and ran, creating a scene. The deliveryman got in his car and a group of revelers piled in behind him as others pounded on the vehicle and tried to tear its sign off. Soon stolen pizza was strewn all over the street.
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