Hundreds riot at Reading High School; rock injures officer

Some in a crowd of as many as 1,500 high school students throw rocks and bottles at police, block streets and bash cars with baseball bats, authorities say.

By Jason A. Kahl
Reading Eagle
2/28/2008

"Reading, PA - An impromptu celebration of the Dominican Republic’s independence day involving as many as 1,500 students outside Reading High School erupted in violence Wednesday afternoon.

A city police captain was injured and at least a half-dozen students were arrested.

An unruly crowd of 1,000 to 1,500 high school students blocked streets around the school and threw rocks and bottles at police when officers tried to disperse them, authorities said.

Deputy Police Chief Mark E. Talbot Sr. said the violent mob was unprecedented and created one of the scariest situations he’s had in his career in Reading.

Some students hit parked cars with baseball bats, and at least one student was reported hurt after someone hit him in the head with a bat, police said.

About 40 police officers — every on-duty officer in the city — responded to the melee, investigators said.

City police Capt. Edward J. Kosmerl Jr. was treated in Reading Hospital after a rock struck him in the head near 13th and Green streets about 4:30, police said.

Kosmerl was standing on the corner with another officer when a crowd of about 100 youths waving Dominican flags passed on the sidewalk, investigators said.

A few seconds later, a golf-ball size rock thrown by someone in the group hit Kosmerl on the side of the head, police said.

Kosmerl, 59, a 34-year veteran of the force, was taken to the hospital by another officer and received several stitches, according to police. He was home Wednesday night but declined comment.

Acting schools Superintendent Anthony A. Georeno said Wednesday night that students of Dominican descent were involved in a variety of celebrations in the school during the day, including an approved assembly with a speaker.

Georeno said he did not know the name of the speaker nor the topic of his presentation.

High school Principal Wynton Butler could not be reached.

Police said they did not know why the students became unruly as they were dismissed from school.

"There was an assembly, and the kids decided to have a big celebration in the streets," said Lt. Albert E. Evans of the patrol division, who was standing beside Kosmerl when he was attacked. "We had police outside the school like we do every day, but it got way out of hand, so we ended up sending every police officer in City Hall up there."

Even with so many officers on hand, police had a difficult time controlling the crowd.

Police were trying only to contain the students and prevent serious violence, Evans said.

Police said school administrators and staff watched as chaos erupted outside the school and did nothing to help police struggling to control the crowd.

Georeno, who did not witness the melee, said his staff told him the gathering was peaceful before police arrived.


Georeno said a group of students he described as jubilant unfurled a Dominican flag as they left the school and held an impromptu parade.


He said school officials did not intervene because the students were orderly and peaceful as they left school property.


The crowd marched through the area for about 90 minutes before breaking up.


Kosmerl was injured near the end of the demonstration, which progressed from the school at 13th and Douglass streets, down Douglass to Eighth Street, over to Green Street and up Spring Street to 10th and 11th streets, police said.


Many students waved red, white and blue Dominican flags and wore red shirts as they paraded.


Students shook their fists and yelled as cars passed.


Police said some of them were running onto porches shouting. Neighbors did not know what was going on, and police said they were caught off guard.


Police handcuffed about six students and took them to City Hall to be charged. Further information about them was unavailable.


Police Chief William M. Heim said he called retired state Trooper Raymond J. Albert, the school district’s safety coordinator, and told him the department would like to know before something like the parade happens again.


"He said they had the same thing last year with no trouble," Heim said. "But certainly we cannot have 1,000 kids parading through the city and blocking the streets. You need to get a permit for something like that so that we can block off the route and keep traffic moving."

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