Galloway Party Ends in Melee

WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) â€” A hotel party thrown by Dallas Cowboys receiver Joey Galloway ended in a fight involving more than 100 people. <br><br>Police struggled to contain the crowd after the fight broke

Monday, May 15th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) â€” A hotel party thrown by Dallas Cowboys receiver Joey Galloway ended in a fight involving more than 100 people.

Police struggled to contain the crowd after the fight broke out around 2 a.m. Sunday in the second-floor hallway of the Ramada City Center.

No arrests have been made, but the fight is under investigation, Sgt. Patrick Butler of the Wheeling Police Department said today.

Galloway, a native of Bellaire, Ohio, had rented several rooms and was passing out Cowboys T-shirts before the fight broke out, Lt. Mike Whelan said. It was not known if Galloway was present when the fighting started.

``He was having a party down there,'' Whelan said. ``They were drinking alcohol and it escalated.''

Police used pepper spray and called the Ohio County Sheriff's Department and the State Police for assistance. Several officers sustained minor injuries, police said.

``They got overrun,'' Whelan said. ``We're understaffed here.''

After police disbursed the crowd, several smaller fights broke out in the hotel's parking garage.

One unidentified man attacked a Wheeling officer as she was entering the hotel to help her colleagues. A crowd gathered, separating the man from the officer. Several men pulled the suspect away and he disappeared into the crowd, according to the report.

More fights erupted at about 3 a.m. when more than 100 people, both from the party and from Peoples, a nearby bar, gathered on a convenience store parking store near the hotel.

Police closed the store, broke up the fights and ordered the crowd to leave.

Whelan said the hotel was not damaged during the melee.