Crime & Safety

Seven Arrested, Including Two Stockton Basketball Players and Four Injured Following Major Bar Fight

A Galloway Police Officer who was head butted during the fight was then almost hit by a drunk driver, who was also arrested.

Six people were arrested and four others, including three police officers, were injured, following a large fight outside early Friday morning, April 27, said on Friday.

At 1:34 a.m., one officer from the Galloway Township Police Department and two officers from the were dispatched to the pub in the Smithville section of the township for a security detail, police said. Officer Raymond Casanova was on patrol in the area, and observed a large crowd on location, police said.

Diandre C. Brown, 22, of Sicklerville and listed as a senior forward on the men's basketball team on Stockton's website, was removed from the pub for causing a disturbance inside. He continued to cause a disturbance, prompting several officers to report to the scene, police said.

Find out what's happening in Gallowaywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Officer Kerry Baerman was attempting to arrest Brown when Brown head butted Baerman in the face, police said. Following a scuffle with police, Brown was taken into custody, and was charged with aggravated assault on police, resisting arrest, failure to disperse and obstruction of justice. His bail was set at $25,000.

As Baerman was transporting Brown to the police station at around 2:09 a.m., he was nearly involved in a head-on collision near Pitney Road and Quail Hill Boulevard when an oncoming vehicle crossed the center line. He avoided the collision and then stopped the vehicle, police said.

Find out what's happening in Gallowaywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

As a result of that incident, Michael Gallagher, 31, of Galloway, was charged by Officer Ronald Gorneau with driving while intoxicated, refusal to submit to breath samples, reckless driving and failure to maintain lane.

After returning to the police station, Baerman was transported to as a result of being head butted, police said.

Meanwhile, several patrons had exited the pub and converged on officers who were attemtping to disperse the crowd, police said. Two males, including one listed as Brown's teammate on the Stockton basketball team, aggressively approached police after being told to disperse. Officers attempted to place Brown's teammate, Ibn Moye, 22, of Beachwood, and Devon E.Gibson, 21, of Newark, under arrest when they fled on foot, police said.

In his attempt to escape, Gibson knocked an uninvolved 22-year-old female to the ground, where she was knocked unconcious as a result of a laceration to her head. She was transported to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Facility Mainland Campus, police said.

Casanova pursued Gibson, and in the process, suffered injuries to his knee and ankle. He was transported to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center Mainland Campus, police said.

Officers were able to capture Gibson and Moye, police said.

Gibson was charged with failing to disperse, aggravated assault for pushing a female and causing injury while attempting to flee police, and aggravated assault for the injury to Casanova. His bail was set at $25,000.

Moye, listed as a sophomore guard from Toms River on Stockton's website, was charged with failure to disperse, resisting arrest and obstruction of justice. His bail was set at $10,000.

As the disorderly crowd continued to grow, more officers were called to the scene, including two from Stockton, three from Absecon, two from Pleasantville and four State Police Officers. The crowd continued to taunt the officers and refused to disperse, resulting in three additional arrests, police said.

Chauncey O. Hunter, 27, of Atlantic City; Justin A. Wilson, 23, of Willingboro; and Amir N. Hopkins, 21, of Camden were all charged with failing to disperse and obstruction of justice, and bail was set at $5,000.

All six of those arrested were transported to the Atlantic County Justice Facility, while officers remained on the scene for two hours, police said.

A third Galloway Police Officer, John Mooney, was also treated at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center Mainland Campus for a shoulder injury.

All three officers have since been discharged, according to a spokesperson from AtlantiCare.

"We are waiting for all the facts from police, but we do have judicial policies in place that hold students to a higher standard of conduct both on and off campus," a Stockton College representative said Friday afternoon. "We are fully cooperating with Galloway Police."

Brown attended high school at Camden County Tech. He played in 29 games during the 2011-12 season, averaging 14.7 points per game, 23 steals, 49 assists and 171 rebounds.

For his career, he averaged 11.3 points per game, 133 steals, 135 assists, 31 blocks,  and 609 rebounds.

Moye played in 38 games in two years on the team, including 25 as a sophomore and has a career average of 8.5 points per game. For his career, he also has 104 rebounds, 42 assists and 39 steals.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.