Thread: Violence at Miami Florida High School

Community reacts to handling of Edison High brawl
Posted on Fri, Feb. 29, 2008Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
BY KATHLEEN McGRORY, ERIKA BERAS AND DAVID OVALLE
kmcgrory@MiamiHerald.com

CBS-4
Dozens of police cars surround and arrest several students at Miami Edison Senior High on Friday morning.
» More Photos
Video | Student footage of the event
Slide show | Violence at Miami Edison Senior High
On the web | Miami Edison Senior High
Edison students call for charges to be dropped
In tense meeting, Edison High parents demand answers
Video | Brawl at Miami Edison Senior High
Video | Interview with Miami Edison High senior
Video | Aerial shots of the school
RELATED VIDEOBrawl at Miami Edison Senior High

More videos from MiamiHerald.comWithin hours of Friday's lunch-hour melee in a courtyard at Miami Edison Senior High, community unhappiness with how police and school officials reacted was beginning to surface.

The disturbance followed a sit-in demonstration held during the school's first lunch block about 11:30 a.m., schools spokesman Quintin Taylor said. They were protesting the treatment of an Edison senior who was arrested at school Thursday.

At least 10 officers were treated at the scene for minor injuries, said Miami fire rescue spokesman Lt. Ignatius Carroll. Six to seven students were also treated on site for minor injuries and respiratory problems, ''but the numbers seem to be growing,'' he said.

One student was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital in stable condition, Carroll said. Another student, taken to the hospital by his mother, was treated for a laceration.

A total of 27 people were arrested -- 19 of them juveniles -- following the brawl, said Miami-Dade Schools Police Cmdr. Charles Hurley. Charges included rioting, disrupting a school function and resisting arrest with violence.

Among those arrested were three unidentified people with no known connection to the school, who allegedly entered the campus during the brawl, are facing trespassing charges.

By evening, members of the Haitian community had come together, some calling into question the police response to the situation. At a tense meeting at the Jean-Jacques Dessalines center Friday afternoon, Edison High parents sought a list of who was arrested in Miami and the condition of any student who was sent to the hospital.

Edwin Alvarez, a construction worker, was among a group of angry relatives and classmates gathered outside the Miami-Dade Juvenile Assessment Center, 275 Northwest 2nd St., waiting for the Edison students arrested Friday to be processed.

''She was arrested and treated like a criminal for just being in the area,'' Alvarez said of his 18-year-old daughter, Jeislee, adding that she is part of an on-campus student group that advocates non-violence in the community. ``I have no idea how she's doing.''

The Power U Center for Social Change scheduled a rally outside the school at 6 p.m. Friday. Students planned to demand that their classmates be released from school and that all charges be dropped.

Students said Friday's protest was intended to be peaceful, but got out of hand. Both students and schools officials said the demonstration was held in response to a confrontation the previous day between assistant principal Javier Perez and a student at the school.

District officials did not name the student, but classmates identified him as 17-year-old senior Wadson Sagaille.

On Friday, the demonstrating students met in a small spillover space in the courtyard, Taylor said. It was unclear how many students participated, though about 400 were present in the cafeteria.

Within minutes, some 60 to 70 police cruisers -- from Miami, Miami-Dade and schools police -- had converged on the school.

Police and students gave conflicting accounts about what happened next.

Miami-Dade Schools Detective Ed Torrens said school administrators had told Edison's school resource police officer of rumors that a walk-out was planned for Friday morning about 9:15 a.m. But the walk-out never materialized, he said.

Three or four officers attended the school's first lunch to monitor and answer questions about the previous day's arrest, Torrens said.

It was during the lunch, inside the cafeteria, that students began throwing chairs at officers and spitting at them. Some chairs hit other students, Torrens said.

''Then those students wanted to fight back and it went south fast,'' Torrens said.

The fights spilled out in the court yard area.

About 11:20 a.m., officers began radioing for ''315s'' -- radio code for officers needing assistance. The calls kept coming and coming, and went to to Miami and Miami-Dade police.

Miami-Dade schools Cmdr. Charles Hurley described Friday's demonstration as a ``student protest, not well planned, sponsored or recognized.''

''This grew very ugly,'' Hurley said. ``Officers were pelted with bottles, books. Students became very unruly.''

But Sabrina Francois, a 16-year-old Edison junior, said violence ensued only when police showed up.

Police ''Tasered a student; they hit a pregnant girl with a stick,'' Sabrina said. ``Even if they were just standing by, they hit so many girls. They didn't notify the parents.''

Speaking earlier to reporters, Hurley denied that Tasers were used.

Jenson Dolce, an 18-year-old senior, sustained a hand injury that required stitches. He called his mother, who took him to the hospital.

Officers ''pushed me into a fire extinguisher trying to contain the crowd,'' Dolce said. ``The kids were throwing food -- milk, yogurt -- at the police.''

The incident that apparently triggered Friday's disturbance was Assistant Principal Perez' confrontation with Wadson Sagaille.

According to Taylor, Perez spotted the student roaming around the hallways. The student had ''had some problems in the past,'' and Perez believed he was skipping school, Taylor said. The assistant principal tried to talk to him.

''He fled,'' Taylor said of the student. ``He became defiant.''

Perez and a school resource officer caught up with the boy in his next class, Taylor said. Perez later told schools officials that he approached the boy to find out why he had run down the hall.

'The assistant principal said `What's going on? Let's talk about this,' '' Taylor said.

At that point, the student became physically aggressive to the assistant principal and the resource officer, Taylor said.

Said schools spokesman John Schuster: ``We understand the student attacked the officer.''

Students told a different story Friday.

Perez ''put him in a choke hold,'' said Julian Jean-Simon, a senior.

''The children are livid,'' said an Edison teacher, who was locked in a room with her students around 11:30 a.m. Friday. ``They felt it wasn't fair or just.''

Friday morning, concerned parents called community centers in Little Haiti to find out about the scuffle at Edison being reported by local TV news channels.

'People are calling, saying, `There is a riot -- what's going on?' '' said Marleine Bastien, executive director of Haitian Women of Miami. ``They are concerned.''

Bastien herself was still gathering information and planned to head to the school.

After school Friday, parents milled about waiting to see if their child would emerge -- or had been arrested. Police maintained a heavy presence on campus late into afternoon.

It has been a violent week in Miami-Dade schools. On Thursday, a student was shot in the ear while breaking up a fight at Miami Norland High School.

The day before that, a student who was expelled from North Dade Academy in Opa-locka last year drew a gun on the principal and pulled the trigger. The gun misfired. The girl, 14, was taken into custody. North Dade Academy is a private school.

Miami Herald staff writers Trenton Daniel, Peter Bailey, Matthew I. Pinzur, Charles Rabin and Tim Chapman contributed to this report.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breakin ... 38888.html

This is the same reaction as the Reading, PA riot. It's always blame the police. No one accepts responsibility for their own actions.

If you throw anything at a police officer, you'd better be prepared for the consequences.

Okay so let me get this straight....Students were outraged by the use of violence by putting that student in a choke hold but then later throw chairs and anything they can get their hands on at police officers? So they are fighting alleged violence with more violence? Those kids need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law...

I'd love to know just what is going on in schools these past few days.

Our daughter, who is in jr. high, had told us that for about a week there had been rumors about upcoming violence at her school. Then yesterday she came home.....both scared out of her wits and angry.....after five different, very large fights broke out on her campus.

These all involved illegals and anchor babies attacking white and native born hispanic kids, all of whom are honor roll students or involved in sports and other activities.

A sixth assault was pre-empted because the security staff had heard rumors, were watching during a lunch hour, and managed to stop an attack on some members of the football team before it started.

According to my daughter, each and every time there was an incident all of these illegal alien kids and anchor babies were screaming the "racist" and "racial profiling" garbage directed at the school staff breaking it up, trying to interfere in the efforts, linking arms and trying to prevent staff from taking the instigators to the office, etc. She said these kids were also claiming "discrimination against the Mexicans" because nothing was done to the other kids, allegedly because they were white, or Americans, or the smart kids, or the athletes or whatever.

I told my husband that sounds as if these kids had a plan right from the start.

You really have to wonder what is up with all of these school incidents all of a sudden.

Originally Posted by azwreath

I'd love to know just what is going on in schools these past few days.

Our daughter, who is in jr. high, had told us that for about a week there had been rumors about upcoming violence at her school. Then yesterday she came home.....both scared out of her wits and angry.....after five different, very large fights broke out on her campus.

These all involved illegals and anchor babies attacking white and native born hispanic kids, all of whom are honor roll students or involved in sports and other activities.

A sixth assault was pre-empted because the security staff had heard rumors, were watching during a lunch hour, and managed to stop an attack on some members of the football team before it started.

According to my daughter, each and every time there was an incident all of these illegal alien kids and anchor babies were screaming the "racist" and "racial profiling" garbage directed at the school staff breaking it up, trying to interfere in the efforts, linking arms and trying to prevent staff from taking the instigators to the office, etc. She said these kids were also claiming "discrimination against the Mexicans" because nothing was done to the other kids, allegedly because they were white, or Americans, or the smart kids, or the athletes or whatever.

I told my husband that sounds as if these kids had a plan right from the start.

You really have to wonder what is up with all of these school incidents all of a sudden.

If that's the case then I think in order to protect native born as in our children who are here legally and have every right to an education that laws need to be be passed banning every single illegal child from attending OUR schoools that WE PAY FOR! And put an end to that 14th ammendment once and for all to stop these anchor babies. Most are dropping out of school anyways because they don't want an education all they are is full of excuses and blame others for their failures instead of taking responsibility for their actions, but whose to blame when their parents broke in to this country and break the law every day. That's like a child who sees his father hit his mom, more than likely he's going to grow up to hit. A child who sees their parent break the law and have no regard for it will also grow up and have no regard for the rule of law. And it's us and our children just like your daughter azwreath who have to suffer. When is enough ENOUGH? When they start killing our kids?