Monday, April 8, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
SUN STAFF REPORTS
Hundreds of Easter Sunday picnickers were ousted from Lorenzi Park after a fight erupted among about 40 people.
Two groups in the picnic area at Washington Avenue and Twin Lakes Drive started fighting about 6:15 p.m. Sunday. Marshals, who patrol city parks, notified other marshals for assistance in breaking up the fight, said Joyce Coyle, spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Deputy Marshal Unit.
All 11 marshals on duty at the time were called to the park, Coyle said. Marshals called Metro Police for more backup and 25 Metro officers responded, she said.
Two Las Vegas men, Rodrick Veal, 19, and Nathaniel Veal, were arrested and charged with battery.
Two female juveniles were arrested and charged with battery on an officer, fighting, drug possession, obstructing an officer and resisting arrest.
"Everyone was cleared out of the park, and it disrupted their Easter picnics," Coyle said. "For the safety of the public, it was in their best interest to close the park."
On Easter Sunday in 1994, picnickers were asked to leave the same park because of a basketball game that got out of hand with people who had weapons, Coyle said.
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