A gravel beach upstream from Memorial Bridge has long been a quiet place for meditation and family time. But ‘flash mobs’ drawn by social media have turned it into a crime scene, with loud music, heavy drinking, fights and gunfire. At last law enforcement takes notice.
The May 19 posting on Nextdoor had all the family-friendly, mutual-support vibe the app is known for at its best: “Hi Neighbors, I’m relatively new to the area, but I was wondering where is the best place to find a nice beach on the river that would be safe for little kids to play in the water…”
A day later a newspaper story was added to the thread: “Gunfire near Healdsburg park leads to arrest of boy, 17.”
The juxtaposition of the innocent mother’s request and the sobering sheriff’s report was striking, especially for a community that has a long history of riverside recreation. The charming postcard of yore with a canoe floating on a hand-tinted riverscape evokes a bucolic scene that, for too many residents, is years in the past.
“We’ve lived here since 2013,” said Dave Bent, who with his wife lives in a house overlooking the broad gravel beach. “The first fourth of July we were here, it was unbelievable. It was a massive gathering. I mean, there was no place for bodies to lay down. There was a big tent with the speakers, probably six feet tall, three or four feet wide, 1400 watts blasting straight at my house.”
The Bent house sits on the south side of the river, but the entire beach is in county jurisdiction, as the city’s area of responsibility ends at the beach. Over the years Bent and other neighbors we’ve spoken to have called the sheriff’s office often to report the out-of-hand parties. Though they are careful to report “disturbances of the peace,” Bent says, the sheriff’s office default response has become that there is no county noise ordinance, ergo, no way to stop them.
The beach in question is accessed by foot from Badger Park, via a service road that runs between the river and the Rivers Bend and Birdland neighborhoods along South Fitch Mountain Road. From Badger Park, it’s about a quarter-mile walk (850 steps on my app) to the short path leading to the wide gravel bar fronted by the gently flowing current. Locals call it Brandt’s Beach, as it’s near that family’s former property. It can be a welcome getaway on a hot summer day, and some go there to meditate in any weather. Heron, osprey, otters and other animals are not uncommon. The river is not deep, but it is meaningful.
May 20
Everyone agrees that the social side of the beach has gotten out of hand. On May 11, Healdsburg Police received a report of about “20 or more people at Badger Park on Heron Drive where an altercation took place between several parties. Another person called about a friend who had a seizure down by the river.”
Though local officers responded and staged medical assistance, the May 11 report concluded, “The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office would handle the situation due to the jurisdiction of the location.”
A little over a week later, on May 11, things got even worse. A particularly loud and rowdy crowd of some 200 people gathered on the beach. Bent told The Tribune, “I called the sheriff the day of the shooting, about an hour or so beforehand, and I said, ‘I want you to send the deputy here, there is a disturbance of the peace.’”
He received the usual no-noise-ordinance response, and got out of there himself. “It was so bad I got in my canoe and I went up-river half a mile to get away from the noise. You couldn’t be in the house without being disturbed by the volume and, you know, it’s not a great playlist,” he said, referring to constant profanity and violence in some of the lyrics.
From there, a few hundred yards upriver, Bent heard the gunshots.
According to the report filed with Healdsburg Police, May 20 at 6:16pm: “Multiple callers indicated that approximately six shots were fired at Badger Park on Heron Drive. Officers responded and determined the incident was in the jurisdiction of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office so it was referred to that office.”
The May 20 incident was also reported by the sheriff’s office on its Facebook feed. It read in part: “Upon arrival, deputies observed multiple individuals fleeing the scene and quickly detained a 17-year-old male juvenile who matched the description of a suspect involved in the shooting. A loaded firearm was located inside a shoulder bag in the juvenile’s possession. The juvenile was not the shooter.”
Their report says that the disturbance was preceded by “a verbal argument among several males near the river [that] escalated into a physical altercation, resulting in gunfire.”
Deputies subsequently searched the riverbed and recovered multiple spent shell casings, and the report concluded, “The incident is currently being investigated as gang-related.”
Wake-up Call
For neighbors on both sides of the river, the problem has been loud, visible and persistent, if seasonal, for years. The rumor of the Instagram or Facebook social media post that set off the lawless popularity of the beach is widespread, but as with all social media virtually impossible to confirm.
Still, the recent incidents have increased attention to a situation that has disturbed neighbors for years and finally erupted in gunfire on May 20.
“Suffice it to say that shots fired seems to be the only way to get anyone’s attention,” wrote Ernie Selander in a Letter to the Editor. “The joke in my community is that an off-leash dog generates a bigger response from law enforcement or our civic leaders.”
Healdsburg Police Chief Matt Jenkins acknowledges the troubles at the location, insisting that “HPD officers regularly respond to calls for service in and around Badger Park and we conduct proactive patrols there.”
He said that “HPD personnel were in the Badger Park area approximately 300 times over the past year; most of these were proactive security checks conducted by our officers.”
Sgt. Juan Valencia, public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office, responded to our queries. “Since the last incident, deputies have been conducting and logging extra patrols,” he said. “We currently have only two deputies assigned to the North Beat, which covers 534 square miles …”
On the subject of gangs, Valencia said, “We have responded to gang-related activity at this location and other areas along the Russian River in the past. While we are aware of a recent increase in gang activity countywide, the Sheriff’s Office lost its full-time gang unit in 2017 due to budget cuts.”
Both men denied there had been any issues with accessing the beach area, apparently a common misconception among the people who live there.
Residents we spoke too all verified that, yes, there has been additonal law enforcement response of late, and the beach is quieter. Almost like it was before.
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office Violent Crimes Unit can be reached at 707.565.2185.
