Santa Rosa police officers who patrol the downtown area on bicycles had been watching the greenway since May 23 when vandals sprayed gang graffiti on the park's walls between Santa Rosa and Railroad avenues, Sgt. Mike Lazzarini said.
City crews cleaned the greenway on Wednesday, Lazzarini said. At 11:30 p.m. that day, officers saw Joseph R. Spratling, 21, and Felix Fernando Carreon III, 18, both Santa Rosa residents, spray-paint the walls near U.S. Highway 101.
The graffiti included gang epithets, threats and other messages that Lazzarini said fueled counter-vandalism by rival gangs.
Both men were arrested and booked into Sonoma County Jail, Lazzarini said.
