ATLANTA — A pipe burst during efforts to stop a fight at a Halloween party at a downtown Atlanta apartment complex Friday morning, drenching units and forcing some college students out into the cold.
A main water valve broke when security personnel attempted to break up the fight at The Mix, a high-rise housing development on the corner of Piedmont and John Wesley Dobbs avenues that is marketed to Georgia State University students.
Police told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, one woman, 19-year-old Tamia Robinson, became combative. The 1.5-inch valve was somehow ruptured during the struggle with security officers.
NEW DETAILS: Atlanta police ID 19-year-old arrested in connection with fight that caused a water valve to burst and nine floors of a downtown student housing complex to flood. https://t.co/gP7zGIkszS pic.twitter.com/aElDrxpA19
— AJC (@ajc) November 1, 2019
Students who were waiting outside in the cold after the pipe burst told WSB-TV that the fight happened during a Halloween party inside The Mix. They said water was gushing from the ceiling.
Water is coming out of this Georgia State student housing building. Students I talked with said this has been going on for hours. Working to learn what happened. pic.twitter.com/DH4yhxtbi1
— Lauren Pozen WSB (@LaurenPozenWSB) November 1, 2019
Nine floors flooded when water cascaded below the break, Atlanta fire spokesman Anare Holmes told the AJC. It was not immediately known how many units were damaged, or if any residents in the off-campus complex would be displaced.
Firefighters told WSB-TV that the fight that led to the pipe bursting involved two women. Investigator James White, a police spokesman, told the AJC another student confronted Robinson in the lobby, sparking a second fight. She was detained at that time.
"Both parties were charged accordingly,” he said.
Robinson was arrested on charges of criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct. The other woman, 18-year-old Tashiane Richardson, is facing a charge of disorderly conduct.
"All I know is what the girls over there told me, which was basically that this all happened over a fight over a boy," student Angel Onyori told WSB-TV. "This just goes to show, boys are not worth it. You're not here for that."
Students were forced outside for hours. Temperatures overnight dropped into the mid-30s.
The building has since been deemed safe for reentry, according to fire officials.
The Cox Media Group National Content Desk contributed to this report.
Cox Media Group
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