Police use pepper spray to break up late-night fight in Newburgh

Police in Newburgh had to call for help from two neighboring departments before they could break up a late-night cluster of fights near 10 Liberty Street, a scene that ended with pepper spray and at least one arrest.

The disturbance broke out around 2 a.m. Sunday, May 17, in the area of 10 Liberty Street, where Newburgh City Police said they encountered several pockets of fighting. Officers from the Town of Newburgh Police Department and the Town of New Windsor Police Department were brought in to help restore order, a sign that the scene had grown beyond what one crew could handle quickly on its own.

Officers used pepper spray to break up the fighting. Mid-Hudson News later reported that Lamont Williams, 56, a City of Newburgh resident, was arrested for disorderly conduct. The report did not say how many people were involved, whether anyone was seriously injured, or whether more arrests followed, but the need for mutual aid underscored how fast a downtown disturbance can spread in the early morning hours.

The weekend did not end there. On Monday, May 18, just after noon, Newburgh City Police responded to Broadway and Liberty Street for a report of a woman aiming a gun at people. Police said she was actually carrying a BB gun and was arrested on an unrelated warrant. Taken together, the two calls put a spotlight on the same downtown corridor, where late-night disorder, daytime police activity and heavy foot traffic can collide in a small area.

The City of Newburgh Police Department says it has 69 sworn officers and 59 non-sworn staff. Chief Brandon Rola, appointed in May 2024, joined the department in 2008 and rose through the ranks over a 17-year career. His department’s core downtown footprint includes 55 Broadway, placing these incidents squarely in the city center rather than a remote neighborhood.

That corridor is also a major focus of city planning and community policing. In January 2026, the city announced more than $10 million in state funding for Liberty Street housing production, green infrastructure, environmental resiliency and Newburgh Landing. City officials have also used Broadway between Johnston Street and Liberty Street for National Night Out events in 2024 and 2025, evidence that the same blocks tied to weekend disorder are also being treated as a place for investment and public outreach.