Fight at Windsor neighborhood park leaves two seriously injured

A fight broke out Tuesday afternoon next to a Windsor neighborhood park with a group of young people reportedly using baseball bats and a tire iron, leaving at least two seriously injured, according to preliminary reports that indicated gang involvement.

The fight was reported at about 3:25 p.m. at Robbins Park on Billington Lane off Old Redwood Highway in the usually tranquil Cross Creek subdivision.

Calling it a gang fight, callers reported a person lying in the street and others leaving the scene in vehicles, according to dispatch reports.

One victim with a non-life threatening wound to his neck was found in a 1980s blue Thunderbird stopped by Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies - who run the Windsor Police Department - on Fulton Road near Airport Boulevard, according to authorities.

A second victim showed up around the corner of the park on Dartmouth Way, bleeding and losing consciousness, dispatchers said. He was taken by ambulance a short time later, but was able to walk and was holding his arm, according to a neighbor.

Windsor Police Chief Chris Spallino said it was not yet clear whether the incident was gang-related.

“We’re still trying to sort it all out,” he said, as he stood outside a home at the corner of Dartmouth Way and Yale Street. “We’re still investigating.”

The outbreak of violence in the well-tended subdivision with Ivy League names was an anomaly, according to residents of the family neighborhood with numerous young children.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this,” said Jason Gradney, who was out for a walk with his wife Andrea.

“Every time we walk through the park, it’s nice and peaceful. It reminds me of the Town Green. The park is well maintained,” he said.

Some residents said there is occasional gang graffiti that shows up on back fences next to the park, but it is quickly removed by maintenance workers at the park, which has an expansive lawn, a couple of children’s play areas with swings, and a slide.

But for some residents, the fact that the fight centered around a red pickup truck - which has its windows shattered by baseball bats - was reminiscent of a violent gang attack two decades ago in Windsor that revolved around a teenager wearing the wrong color sweatshirt.

Windsor was the site of a notorious gang attack in 1996 that nearly killed 17-year-old Dylan Katz, whose mistake was wearing red. In the world of gangs, nortenos generally wear red and surenos blue. Katz, a non-gang member, was stomped for wearing red.

A resident of Cornell Street who called 911 when the fight broke out Tuesday afternoon said it began with a faded blue-gray “beater car,” or old sedan, cruising down the street with two young men or teens in it.

“They looked kind of sketchy, like they were looking for somebody,” said the man, who only gave his first name, Mark. “It looked like they were looking for trouble.”

Then four “kids” - three males and a female - arrived in a bright red Dodge Ram pickup, he said, before parking near the corner of Cornell and Shira Street and walking over to the nearby Robbins Park.

The witness saw the old battered car come back and pull up to the pickup.

“They got out with baseball bats and started smashing windows of the truck,” the witness said. The occupants who had arrived in the pickup came running back and a melee ensued.

The witness said the fight seemed to go on for several minutes, with the two men in the sedan wielding wooden baseball bats and one of the males from the red truck fighting with what reportedly was a tire iron.

“I saw a kid hit in the arm (with a bat). He was down lying on the ground,” he said.

He said the pickup truck’s occupants “weren’t aggressors. They were trying to defend themselves.”

The two males in the sedan sped away, with the passenger door still partly open and the passenger struggling to close it.

“He wasn’t fully in the car. He was hanging half in, half out. I thought he might fall out,” he said.

Sheriff’s deputies said the Thunderbird was followed by a witness until it could be stopped by sheriff’s deputies and Windsor Police officers a couple miles away.

In a prepared statement, police said there were four people in the vehicle, three of whom were detained and one who was taken to the hospital.

Staff Writer Clark Mason can be reached at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @clarkmas. Staff Writer Julie Johnson can be reached at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.