Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 14, 1993 TAG: 9309140210
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A fight between two girls quickly escalated into a mob scene involving as many as 400 people at Friday night's game between Patrick Henry and William Fleming high schools at Victory Stadium.
Eleven juveniles and two adults were arrested as police quickly restored order.
Harris said he was pleased the disturbance was quelled so quickly and without serious injury, but he still plans to meet this week with school officials to discuss what - if anything - could have been done differently.
"I think it's important that whenever you have an incident like this, you take the time and effort to examine the current guidelines and procedures," he said.
Harris said he does not have any specific proposals in mind.
"I don't have any preconceived notions going in, except to say we all want to take an honest look at it," he said.
Although the fight started on the William Fleming side of the stadium, Principal Alyce Szathmary said "only a few Fleming students were involved."
She declined to say how many, but said the students have been suspended for 10 days and will face a disciplinary review board. The two girls who started the fight were not Fleming students, she said.
Patrick Henry Principal Elizabeth Lee could not be reached for comment Monday.
Most of the juveniles were charged with misdemeanor offenses of impeding police and disorderly conduct. The most serious charge - a felony of malicious wounding - was brought against a 16-year-old boy who allegedly struck a police officer.
That youth was ordered held without bond Monday by a judge in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, according to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Wanda DeWease.
Officer E.L. Hopkins, one of about two dozen officers involved in breaking up the fight, received a cut to his forehead that required stitches, police said.
The fight began during the game's third quarter on a ramp off the east stands of the stadium. Two girls began to argue about a boy, authorities said, and the fight quickly grew as bystanders joined in and police intervened.
Police estimated that several hundred people were involved in the disorder. Harris said many of them were people who heard about the fight and "just more or less ran in that direction."
Far more people stayed in the bleachers, he said.
"I would stress that the vast majority of the kids and the spectators conducted themselves in an admirable way," Harris said.
by CNB