ALTAMONT — As the packed midway started to empty out on Friday night, word of a man with a gun spread quickly through the crowd.

The fair parking lot on the Altamont-Voorheesville Road, which had been full earlier in the evening, was mostly empty as several State Troopers along with Altamont’s public safety commissioner, Anthony Salerno, talked near a young, handcuffed man.

Michael D. Dascoli, 18, of 82 Cherry Ave. in Delmar, a former Altamont resident, was arrested at 10:40 p.m. for possessing a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle.

Altamont Police and State Troopers “responded to a fight in progress at the fairgrounds,” according to a release from the State Police, “and, upon arrival, were advised by witnesses that one of the involved parties had pulled a rifle out while still driving around parking lot #5.

“The vehicle was stopped by the Troopers and Altamont PD where Dascoli was observed holding a 9mm High Point carbine, which was equipped with a laser sight and two fully loaded spare magazines.”

Dascoli could not be reached for comment but his father, also named Michael Dascoli, said, “It’s been spun into something it’s not….He was target shooting in Altamont that day, then he went to the fair…He was sighting his scope at a friend’s house in Altamont so his rifle was in the car…It wasn’t fired. It wasn’t leveled at anyone….There was a clip in it; it wasn’t chambered; it wasn’t ready to fire…He was leaving the fairgrounds when he was pulled over…He’s not a …murderer.”

Trooper Maureen Tuffey, spokeswoman for the State Police, said, “These occurrences happen all the time at fairs. People get drunk, get in a fight; it’s not a huge problem”

Dascoli was arraigned in the Village of Altamont Court and remanded to Albany County’s jail in lieu of $1,500 bail.