A brawl at the East Baton Rouge Readiness Alternative School in Louisiana has left several police officers injured and at least 10 people under arrest, including three charged with battery on a police officer. A loaded gun also found abandoned on the ground after the incident.
The fight, which began with a small group of students, quickly escalated, involving parents and other students fighting police as well.
Upon responding to a “major campus disturbance” early March 8, police found approximately 200 people involved in brawls across the school campus, with one fight spilling out into the courtyard and gym. Officials have yet to determine what triggered the massive melee at the school, which caters toward students who were suspended or expelled from other district schools.
Videos taken inside the school’s gym show chairs being thrown and students being detained by law enforcement. One video shows a sheriff’s deputy forcefully hitting a student’s face into a brick wall while trying to arrest a 17-year-old student.
Police claim the teen punched the officer in the face and tried to bite him, leading to the aggressive encounter captured on video.
One responding police officer sustained injuries during the altercation, including a broken hip and lacerations to the head. During the fight, students were allegedly locked inside the gym.
According to a NAACP statement, the group is reviewing video footage from the incident to determine whether the aggressive police response was justified.
According to one witness, the brawl erupted when a girl and her mother, who were not students at the school, showed up to fight another girl. The situation quickly escalated from there.
All of those arrested were students between the ages of 15 and 18, with none of the parents or other adults at the scene taken into custody.
Five students were arrested for disturbing the peace, including an 18-year-old girl who was charged with unlawful disruption and resisting arrest. A 17-year-old girl charged was also charged with disturbing the peace and resisting arrest.