Key West’s last New Year’s Eve curfew ended in a riot.
It was late on Dec. 31, 1975, or very early Jan. 1, 1976, when police closed bars two hours before the legal closing time, then used fire hoses to disperse angry crowds and arrested 114 people. Eight people were injured in the melee that prompted the governor to launch an investigation into reports that police officers and firefighters had been drinking on duty that night, according to reports from the Palm Beach Post in 1976.
The fire hoses pummeled revelers who were slow to disperse and tear gas was released into the crowd. Eight people were injured, although Police Chief Winston James later claimed the tear gas was accidentally deployed, the Palm Beach Post reported on Jan. 4, 1976.
“It hurt our business,” Colleen Sytek, manager of the Boat Bar, told the Palm Beach Post in the days following the chaos. “Everybody was beautiful all night … and then the police said to get everyone out of here,” the Palm Beach Post reported.
After arresting 114 people, police came under investigation themselves, when Gov. Reubin Askew ordered an inquiry by the state Department of Criminal Law Enforcement.
Emory Major, a prominent Key West resident, testified at the time that some police officers had been drinking on duty before the confrontation. He said alcohol had been served at a party for police and firefighters in the fire station at City Hall, in violation of city laws, the Palm Beach Post reported.
Police Commissioner William Gamble testified during the inquiry, “When you can’t break up a crowd, it’s better to wet them up,” the Palm Beach Post article states.
“Much of the criticism stemmed from police action in clearing revelers out of bars two hours before legal closing time and in failing to barricade the streets. Critics said that two years ago, when the streets were barricaded and revelry unrestricted in the streets, the only incident reported was the accidental breaking of a show window. Last year and this year violence erupted when police attempted to keep the street open,” the newspaper article states.
The police commissioner’s response in 1976 shows how times — and tourism — have changed in Key West:
Commissioner Gamble responded at the time by saying, “A lot of local people like to drive through on New Year’s Eve. Why should we change for a few people?” the Palm Beach Post reported.
Investigators subpoenaed the activity records of 13 police officers who were present for the uprising on New Year’s Eve, according to reports in the Miami Herald. Public Defender Nancy Linnan testified at the time that two police officers had fired warning shots to disperse the crowds.
Twenty-one people testified at a city-run inquiry in January 1976, with nearly all of them saying they had witnessed “acts of police brutality including clubbings of revelers in the early-morning hours of New Year’s Day.”
The state investigation “reached no conclusive results,” but investigators turned their findings over to a Monroe County grand jury, according to a Jan. 7, 1976 Miami Herald article. The results of that grand jury inquiry are unknown.
Editor’s Note: Keys Weekly thanks Key West author and business owner David Sloan for supplying the 1976 newspaper accounts of the New Year’s Eve melee in 1976.
