Police Helicopter Causes Havoc at Tailgate Party

State police in Pennsylvania are defending their use of a low-flying helicopter to bring a rowdy Penn State tailgate party under control Saturday. Video shared on social media shows the helicopter sending tents and grills flying as it hovers over the gathering outside Beaver Stadium before the game against Ohio State, PennLive.com reports. Pennsylvania State Police said in a statement Monday that they were called about a party "creating risk to persons and property and the crowd "first ignored commands to disperse from law enforcement on the ground," WNEP reports.

"Then PSP deployed personnel, including the Pennsylvania State Police Tactical Mounted Unit," police said. "The crowd began to turn unruly and two PSP horses were assaulted and a trooper was injured. Ground units pulled back in an effort to deescalate the situation." It was then, the police statement said, that the aviation unit was called in to use a loudspeaker to order the crowd to disperse. "When personnel on scene noticed the helicopter was low enough to disturb items on the ground, the helicopter pulled up to a higher altitude," police said. At least one person was arrested and one state trooper suffered a broken wrist in the incident, a police spokesman told reporters. (More Penn State stories.)