Fresno State's first home game of the football season drew quite a crowd inside Bulldog Stadium on Saturday, while outside a different kind of competition played out between the university and a one-man ticket-selling operation.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Police arrested a ticket broker Saturday night outside Bulldog Stadium who was trying to sell about 50 tickets to the Fresno State-Nebraska football game. He was selling the $65 seats for $40 alongside several others who were doing the same thing.
Pete Kennedy is a well-known ticket reseller in Fresno. Saturday night he had a stack of tickets he was working to get rid of near the Bulldog ticket office. Fresno State police say they got several complaints about him, so they asked him to leave. But he was arrested after he didn't go far enough off campus.
Kennedy says he was singled out while he tried to get rid of dozens of tickets outside the sold-out Fresno State-Nebraska game. Just as ticket sales picked up, he says police found a reason to take him out of business.
"Because once I was detained the clock was taken away, and by the time I was released I had no more opportunity," said Kennedy. "Right, wrong or indifferent, I think that's why I was arrested -- the charge aside."
Fresno State police say Kennedy was arrested because he didn't have a permit to sell tickets on campus. But he was only booked on charges of failure to leave campus.
Officers say they told him he had to leave school property, so Kennedy says he stepped right outside the parking lot.
"So I went back to work and said 'tickets,' and that's right when they grabbed my hand and put it behind my back, confiscated my tickets and took me to the back of a cop car," said Kennedy.
Fresno State Police Sgt. Ruben Madrigal says Kennedy was given several chances to comply, but refused.
"He was warned numerous times to leave campus, that he wasn't able to do that," said Madrigal. "He was not compliant with the officers' demands, and after a few minutes of not listening to the officers that's when he was taken into custody."
Kennedy took Action News to the spot he claims he was arrested. Even though he appears to be on public property, Kennedy says police ordered him to go further -- across the street.
Monday afternoon, Kennedy told his version of what happened over the phone to Fresno State President Joseph Castro.
"And I explained to the officer that I was outside the boundaries of the fence and therefore not on campus property, and that he had no authority to ask me to go across the street," said Kennedy.
ABC30 legal analyst Tony Capozzi says this kind of arrest is unusual and questionable.
"Evidently, there were other people selling tickets and he was the only one asked to leave, and from what I understand he did leave, but yet it wasn't to the satisfaction of the police officer and as a result he was arrested," said Capozzi. "In all honesty, I don't see where a district attorney in this county would even file a complaint against this person."
Kennedy was put in the back of a police car and taken to the Fresno County Jail. His tickets were taken as evidence. He was taken at 6:06 p.m. and released just before midnight.
Since 2003, Kennedy has sold tickets to everything from concerts, to Major League Baseball games and more. Until Saturday, he had never been arrested.
Capozzi says if the arrest was unwarranted or unlawful, Fresno State could end up with a bill to pay.
"He couldn't sell the rest of his tickets, and if he was doing it legally I think the university could be liable for the value of those tickets," said Capozzi.
Kennedy says he lost about $4,000 in sales. He also said Fresno State President Joseph Castro told him he'd look into the matter.