Police feared riot as hundreds cheered girls' fight at Lawrence High; 5 arrested

By Stephanie Chelf
Staff writer

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LAWRENCE — A crowd of students at Lawrence High School watching a fight among several girls became so unruly police were worried there could be a riot.
Three officers received minor injuries yesterday breaking up the clash, as hundreds of students cheered the fight and yelled at officers.
Officers had trouble weaving through the crowd to break up the fight, police said. Several school officials were also there, including an assistant principal who separated two girls from fighting.
Five girls, ages 14 to 16, were arrested on charges including disorderly conduct, disturbance of school, and resisting arrest. One girl, 16, also was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery on a police officer.
One girl told police she thought she broke her hand after she struck another girl in the head.
"The superintendent is as concerned as I am about this incident," said Police Chief John Romero. "Once you have kids fighting and more watching, that's a pretty serious situation. There are lots of kids hanging around and that leads to the potential for things to happen."
The fight broke out at the end of the school day with several hundred students inside and outside the new $110 million high school on North Parish Road. The high school has 3,000 students.
"This is the first spring in the new high school, obviously, it's a learning process," Romero said. "We'll reach out to school officials and come up with a way to maintain order and safety in the school."
The department has one full-time officer in the high school all day. At the end of each school day, there are three other officers at the school, including the school officers' commander.
"We probably should have more (officers there)," Romero said, adding that officers called for back up during the fight and several other patrolmen came to the school to assist.
Officers were called to the main entrance of the school around 3 p.m. with a report of four students fighting. The four females were fighting, with about 300 students cheering them on. An assistant principal was removing one of the girls as officers arrived and police took her into custody.
The altercation continued outside when police tried to take an unruly student into custody. An officer was kicked by one of the girls and another sustained a cut to his right hand and injured his pinky finger. Another officer reported injuries to his lower back.
Students yelled at police from both sides of the street, leading police to call for backup.
"Due to the actions of the arrested and the extremely large crowd, the situation became volatile and had the potential for a riotous situation," officers wrote in their report.