i45NOW
A beach in Crystal Beach, Texas, is filled with people participating in the “Jeep weekend event.”
CNN
—
A weekend of trouble that authorities say included public drunkenness and disorder at an annual Jeep rally in Texas led to about 230 arrests, authorities said.
The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office said they had been preparing for three months ahead of the popular annual Crystal Beach event, according to May. Ray Nolen.
“This event is usually very taxing on our resources,” Nolen told reporters Sunday. He added that more than 120 law enforcement officers were at the event, which runs from Thursday to Sunday.
Most of those arrested face misdemeanor charges, Nolen said. More than 200 charges were filed Saturday alone, according to CNN affiliate KTRK.
The unofficial event — known mostly through word of mouth — involves tens of thousands of people flocking to the beach in jeeps and other vehicles to drink and party, according to CNN affiliate KRPC.
But each year brings dozens of arrests and hospitalizations, along with scores of music-blaring beachgoers who park and drive feet away from Gulf waters, KRPC reported.
The wild event got so out of control last year that a sheriff’s deputy sergeant’s leg and arm were broken after he was hit by a car while directing traffic, according to KTRK.
The annual event started as a gathering solely for Jeep fans, but that changed over the past several years as the event increasingly attracted a non-Jeep enthusiast crowd, Nolen said.
Official Jeep clubs and fans began pulling away from the Crystal Beach area, located along Texas’ Bolivar Peninsula bordering the Gulf of Mexico, to meet elsewhere in the state, Nolen said — but that hasn’t stopped others from entering the area.
Nolen told CNN that emergency crews responded to approximately 65 calls for service at Crystal Beach related to the Jeep event.
EMS workers took about 40 people to the hospital “for various minor injuries and illnesses” since the event began Thursday, Nolen told reporters Sunday.
The chaotic party has turned deadly in recent years: One person died at the event in 2021, and another death was reported in 2019, according to KTRK.
“We’re just trying to maintain order and keep everyone safe,” Nolen said.
