DeKalb police made two arrests early Friday morning after a fight broke out on West Lincoln Highway amid a crowd numbered in the hundreds.

Police said at 12:55 a.m. while observing bar closing time at Husky’s Bar and Grill, 1205 W. Lincoln Highway, several hundred people moved from the parking lot into the street as a fight was about to start.

Police contained most of the subjects and were moving them off the street when a large fight broke out in the center of the crowd.

Police said they were forced to pepper spray people as they fought. Several of the sprayed suspects then ran from the scene.

Police used the pepper spray to keep the fight from growing out of control, DeKalb Police Lt. Jim Kayes said.

“Generally, if you’re using it [for] crowd control it’s because people are ignoring verbal commands to do what they’re supposed to do,” Kayes said.

Pepper spray only becomes an option when people refuse to stop an illegal act, Kayes said.

“They’re not gonna use spray just for the hell of it,” Kayes said.

Officers apprehended two NIU students involved in the fight, Joshua Franklin, 20, of North Chicago, and Ernest Wright, 20, of 765 Regent Drive.

Franklin was charged with unlawful consumption of alcohol, battery and resisting a peace officer. Wright was charged for fighting within the city.

Police said the rest of the subjects were lost in the crowd. The cause of the fight remains unknown.

An officer assaulted during the incident was not injured, Kayes said.

Kayes said police have had to respond to the bar for fights on multiple occasions, particularly after shows that draw crowds from out of town.

Calls to Husky’s Bar and Grill this weekend went unanswered.