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The cops need the permission of the property owners to run the kids off, which they may or may not have had. If they do have the permission, and the kids refuse to leave, then they may be arrested for criminal trespass. But they have to be given a chance to leave.

Not to continue a silly argument, but I respectfully disagree with you here. I am quite sure the cops have the right to disperse a crowd the size of the one in question. No, I can't point to the specific law, but the cops do not need the owners permission to disperse a large crowd that is obviously not invited to be where they are.

Many of us simply wish "cops" would use common sense in many situations instead of "just following orders". Well, I think its common sense that a crowd of 400+ was not invited to hang out in a parking lot at 12:30 am. Arrest them? No. Hand out citations if its known that this crowd comes there week after week? Yes. The kids do not have to be told not to come there and hang out. They know they are not suposed to. That's common sense.

Monica Coello, 36, was finishing a meal in the parking lot with her brother, sister, sister-in-law and 2-year-old niece when she was arrested.

At 1:30 AM? I actually would love to know why these three were out at 1:30, eating, with a two-year old. One of the kids parents obviously wasn't there. The mother of them all was at her home. This all sounds strange.

Coello's sister-in-law and niece were left behind, stranded. Police took Coello, her brother and sister to jail.

Again, this is strange. These "show no mercy" cops didn't arrest this one for a reason. Weird stuff. I would love to know the whole story.

It's a question of who gets to enforce the property rights of a private landowner. How do you know that the businesses didn't want the crowds there? With a crowd that size, a certain percentage are likely to buy something to eat as they are hanging out. The owner of the Sonic, for example, said that he was making $12,000 every Saturday night from that crowd.

The police don't have the right to come onto your property and tell people to leave just because there are a lot of people present. It doesn't make any difference if you haven't specifically invited a crowd, as long as you permit it. As soon as YOU don't want the people there, YOU can demand that they leave. You can even have the police make that demand on YOUR behalf.

If the people refuse to leave, they can be cited or arrested. But the cops can't come onto your property and cite or arrest people that you have permitted to enter.