25 Arrested in high school brawl www.privateofficer.com

25 Arrested in high school brawl http://www.privateofficer.com

HOLLYWOOD FLA Jan 30 2009
SunSentinel.com – Classes resumed at South Broward High School apparently without any disturbances this morning after a lunchtime brawl Wednesday that involved as many as 50 students forced officials to temporarily lock down the campus.

Several police cars were parked in the area as students came to school today.Police said today that a total of 25 people have been arrested.

Authorities say Wednesday’s incident began with an exchange of words in the cafeteria. District spokesman Keith Bromery said today that it appears groups of students who had been arguing off campus brought their dispute to school.
Within minutes, police say, a full-blown brawl was raging.Police took away 18 students in handcuffs — 17 boys and one girl.

They have been suspended for 10 days, and school authorities are investigating whether any should be expelled, Broward Schools spokesman Andrew Feirstein said.

Seven more people, including five more students, were arrested off campus after school let out.”There were no weapons, just punches,” police spokesman Lt. Manny Marino said. “One or two of them might have a bump, bruise, or black eye, but nothing that required medical treatment.

“The melee inside the school at 1901 N. Federal Highway broke out at about 11 a.m., when an argument between a few students got physical.”Before you know it, more kids jumped in, and we had to have officers there to break it all up,” Marino said.By the time the school resource officer responded, between 30 and 50 students were throwing punches at each other, and the crowd of onlookers had swelled to about 100, Marino said.

The school security guard called for backup, bringing a swarm of Hollywood police.

Officials ordered a lockdown to keep other students safely inside classrooms while police broke up the fight and looked for those responsible.

When it was over, 18 students had been arrested on misdemeanor charges of disturbing a school function and disorderly conduct, Marino said.They were released to their parents and guardians after being processed at the Hollywood police station.The other seven people were arrested as they were hanging around an abandoned nearby restaurant, Marino said. They were charged with misdemeanor trespassing.

Five of them were South Broward High students. Who the others were wasn’t immediately available.Bromery said clashes between the cliques of students had spilled over into the school before, but never to the extent of Wednesday’s fight, he said. The previous campus conflicts had been mostly verbal, Bromery said.”This is groups of students from neighborhoods down there that have had a conflict for whatever reason,” he said. “The school has been dealing with whatever spills into the school.

They’ve tried to talk to the parents.”District investigators used surveillance cameras to differentiate between participants and spectators, he said.The principal has not recommended any of those students be expelled from school, Bromery said.Instead, school administrators are working with parents again, he said, to see “if there’s mitigation there.”

“There’s no automatic expulsion,” he explained. “It has to go before the board.

“South Broward, a D-rated school, has an enrollment of 2,140.

The brawl was this year’s first major fight at a South Florida school.

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