TAMPA — Six students were arrested and two were taken to the hospital after fights broke out in the courtyard of Middleton High School on Thursday afternoon, police say.
Students were changing classes when the brawling started at about 1:30 p.m. The commotion was so chaotic, additional Tampa police officers were called to the school to backup the school resource officers.
Videos posted on Instagram showed snippets of what happened. In one video, teenagers surround a boy, tackle him to the ground, then kick and stomp him until administrators start yelling and intervene. In another, a girl grabs another girl by her braids and throws her to the ground as other students yell.
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At one point during the brawls, an officer accidentally sprayed pepper spray after a student either struck or bumped into him, said Tampa police spokesman Steve Hegarty.
That student was arrested on a charge of battery of a law enforcement officer. Five other students were arrested on charges of affray, disrupting school functions or both. None of the students who were arrested or injured were named by police.
Parents heard rumors that one student was stabbed with a pencil, but Hegarty said that did not happen.
One student hit his head against a concrete wall during a fight and was taken to the hospital to be treated for a cut on his head, police said. Another student went to the hospital with vision and breathing problems due to the accidental pepper spray discharge.
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School administrators placed the campus on lockdown and the school day ended with a controlled dismissal.
“This was an isolated incident — a couple of students or a group of students,” district spokeswoman Tanya Arja told the Tampa Bay Times. “The vast majority of the students at Middleton High School do the right thing every day and come to learn.”
When asked if the school would make any changes in its procedures due to the fights, Arja said that was not expected.
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