Beachgoers watch improvised boxing match on Tybee Island
Orange Crush revelers watch two women with boxing gloves fight. (TMX)
A man is accused of shooting at a car during a road rage incident as emergency services were stretched to the breaking point during this past weekend's spring break-like bash on Georgia's Tybee Island.
An estimated 40,000 to 55,000 HBCU (historically Black colleges and universities) co-ed revelers flocked to the three-square-mile island for Orange Crush Festival, which created havoc and gridlock on the roadways, particularly on Highway 80.
Late Saturday night, Adam Bauer, 38, was arrested and charged with six counts of aggravated assault after allegedly shooting at another car on Highway 80 near Fort Pulaski, according to the Chatham County Police Department.
One victim suffered a non-life threatening gunshot wound and was taken to a local hospital for treatment. The other five people in the car avoided injuries, according to police.
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People dance in the street and on cars as the sun goes down on Tybee Island's Orange Crush Festival over the weekend. (RJ Smith / Savannah Morning News / USA Today Network)
The Orange Crush Festival, which started in the late 1980s for HBCU students and alum, returned to Tybee Island, which was a Whites-only beach until the mid-1960s, after two years in Jacksonville, Florida.
However, the sheer volume of people that visited the island, which has a population of about 3,000, stretched the area's emergency services thin.
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Some 11,555 cars came to the barrier island Saturday, according to city estimates, and there were about a dozen car crashes along Highway 80, creating hours of gridlock.
However, the party seekers did not let bumper-to-bumper traffic slow the weekend-long event.
A large crowd of people enjoy Tybee Beach at sunset during the Orange Crush Festival on Saturday. (RJ Smith / Savannah Morning News / USA Today Network)
Videos and pictures of people dancing in the streets and on cars to blaring music flooded social media, and the event was tied with an unknown number of noise complaints, alcohol violations and littering.
As of Tuesday morning, Tybee Island police did not immediately have a number of alleged crimes and complaints committed over the weekend, but Fox News Digital filed a public records request for the information.
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Shannon Sharpe, an NFL Hall of Fame tight end with the Denver Broncos who went to Savannah State University, tweeted a video of a fight purportedly during this weekend's festivities and said he was "EMBARRASSED" with three sad face emojis.
"I'm 1 of the original creators of ‘Orange Crush.' I'm EMBARRASSED by this," Sharpe tweeted on Monday.
A partygoer leans out of a car window during stopped traffic at the Orange Crush Festival on Tybee Island, Georgia, on April 22, 2023. (RJ Smith / Savannah Morning News / USA Today Network)
The police department said in a statement on Monday that it was working on putting together the "traditional weekly recap."
"We fully understand that everyone has questions about this weekend's events," the Tybee Island Police Department said. "Rest assured that our Public Information Officer is currently working diligently to put together our traditional weekly recap."
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"However, there is a lot of paperwork and documentation to process. We ask that you please remain patient as we work to ensure that we're providing complete and accurate information."
Chuck Kearns, the CEO of Chatham Emergency Services, told local newspaper Savannah Now that were 10 car crashes between noon and 10 p.m. on Saturday, including one crash where seven people were injured and a passenger was ejected.
Friends take a quick dip in the ocean at Tybee Island, Georgia, on April 22, 2023. (RJ Smith / Savannah Morning News / USA Today Network)
"I can only equate it to the kind of traffic jams when I was in Florida and they were evacuating for hurricanes," Kearns told the news outlet. "Our crews were run ragged nonstop all day."
Tybee Mayor Shirley Sessions said in a statement to Savannah Now that this year's Orange Crush Festival "was admittedly too large and chaotic."
"But at the end of the day, Tybee Island is fortunate that no lives were lost and no property destroyed," Sessions said.
HISTORY OF ORANGE CRUSH
In the early 1990s, Orange Crush had a reputation for being a wild, crime-filled weekend, and Savannah State University disassociated with the event in 1991 because of the high number of arrests and reports of violence.
Two years ago, the event moved to Jacksonville, Florida, "due to lack of resources, limited parking, civil rights violations and political injustices," according to a June 2021 story on Jacksonville.com, which cited the event's website. The website has since been taken down.
The event returned to Tybee Island this past weekend for the first time since 2020.
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The city's mayor said in a text to Savannah Now that city leaders will have an after-action review and plan.
"Because Tybee Island is a public beach, we are limited in what we can do to control this event," Sessions told the local newspaper. "However, going forward, we will work on better solutions."
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