Eleven pupils have been arrested after a huge high school brawl in the middle of the school day.
According to a statement released by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, the incident occurred at Matanzas High School in Palm Coast, Florida, about 90 miles north of Orlando, when two school resource officers responded to a disturbance in a high school hallway at around 1 p.m. on Monday afternoon.
At least two school resource deputies are assigned to each campus in Flagler County, and the two officers “immediately assisted teachers and administrators in attempting to break up the fight and disperse the crowd of onlookers,” according to police.
“During the fight, a female student pushed (a constable) so they could attack another student,” authorities explained in a statement. “At the same time, (another constable) was attempting to maintain control of the situation and noticed a male student run into the altercation.” Deputy Landi then watched the boy charging towards a school employee while swinging his arms, eventually striking the employee in the shoulder… At the same moment, another school administrator was attempting to lead a kid away from the altercation when another male student raced up and seized the administrator. After that, the student assaulted the administrator before being brought to the Dean’s Office.”
Eleven kids were arrested in total, three of them were charged with felony Resisting a Law Enforcement Officer with Violence and Battery on a School Official. According to police, the other eight pupils had affidavits filed with the State Attorney’s Office suggesting misdemeanour charges be made against them.
“The lack of respect demonstrated by these students is simply shameful,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly stated. “However, acts have repercussions. Be the Sheriff in your own home and teach your children the value of respecting teachers, staff, and deputies. Teach children how to resolve differences without resorting to violence. We have a zero-tolerance policy for school violence, and you will be arrested. I also want to thank our School Resource Deputies and the Matanzas High School employees for immediately bringing a potentially dangerous situation under control before anyone was gravely wounded.”
“I agree with what our Sheriff has said in the past; this type of behaviour is not to be tolerated by anyone,” Flagler Schools Superintendent LaShakia Moore added. However, these activities do not reflect the hundreds of students that come to our campuses every day to learn. Every day, a large number of students, teachers, administrators, and staff work to promote and celebrate a strong school culture at their schools. This is an opportunity for our parents and guardians to reaffirm the positive decisions their children make and to remind them of the importance of success in life.”
Matanzas High School personnel has now notified parents of the event, and an investigation into the cause of the altercation is underway.
