THIS IS WHY NOBODY WANTS THESE ANIMALS IN THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS OR SCHOOLS
A fight at Proviso East High School on the last day of school May 30, involved more than 300 students and spilled into the streets of Maywood for several hours, Police Chief Tim Curry confirmed Thursday. At least ten students were arrested, including a girl wielding two chef's knives who had been previously knocked down and stomped by other students.
Curry said another girl was struck over the eye with a lock and two others received minor injuries. The three injured students were taken to Loyola Medical Center. More than 40 officers from neighboring agencies were called to the scene including Oak Park, Forest Park, Westchester, Bellwood and Broadview. Sheriff's police were also summoned.
Although neither the school nor District 209 sent any kind of communication to parents describing what had happened, Curry said it was important for parents to know what happened.
"It didn't happen in the school. This was within the jurisdiction of law enforcement," Curry said. "But the parents, if they don't know they should know. They should be down knocking at our door asking what can we do to help?"
The fights were recorded on cell phones by students and posted on Youtube and Facebook.
The fights began in the school parking lots and the streets surrounding the area at 9:30 a.m. when school was dismissed for the last day.
Curry said the Maywood police commonly make their presence known after school at First Ave. and Madison Street on a daily basis to escort students home, or wait until crowds dissipate.
"We were caught by surprise when school got out at 9:30 in the morning," Curry said.
Curry said the melee tied up police for hours. "The aftermath brought us into several hours, processing the arrested students and finding their parents. We lost much of the day because of this."
The fight is still under investigation and detectives are unsure if it spontaneously occurred or was the result of possible online planning. He said he didn't think it was a gang-related fight.
"There were 300 or more kids involved and many of those kids were involved in the fight or egging it on," he said.
"Many of these kids we arrested were not the fighters. They were charged with obstructing the police or disorderly conduct because they wanted to stick around after we told them to disperse. Instead of going home or trying to stop the fight, some decided to film the fight and put it all over Facebook," Curry added.
Curry, who's retiring next month, said the matter was not the school's fault, but poor choices the students were making, and the lack of support from parents.
"Every day the Maywood Police are trying to control other people's children," Curry said. "At some point parents have to come and say 'these are our kids and our responsibility,'" he added.
"If kids know parents are on-board with law enforcement, there's some accountability on the parents -- and children too."
The Proviso Township High School District 209 administration did not return emails requesting a comment on the incident.
0 comments:
Post a Comment