Police in California Fire Rubber Bullets to Disperse High Schoolers

Apparently a fight between two individuals escalated into a riot involving 500 kids, and officers were dispatched to control the crowd.

abcnews.go.com...

A fight between two high school students erupted into a riot of 500 people, prompting officers to fire bean bags and rubber pellets to scatter the crowd, police said. No major injuries were reported.

About 100 officers rushed to Fontana High School after students threw rocks and bottles at other officers and one another, according to Fontana police Sgt. Doug Wagner.

Police were investigating the cause of the fight.

Wow...

That's one helluva brawl to result from just a lousy fight. The article says that some kids were chucking rocks and bottles at one another, but when the cops showed up they were pelted as well.

I don't remember the last time a riot broke out at a high school, nevermind one of this size.

Racial tensions? I remember fun times in my high school in this regard, lots of animosity between whites and blacks - sometimes it got really nasty, but it was always an isolated incident. Never a full-on riot.

What's going on over there?

Is this the precursor to a lockdown of high schools, with armed officers posted in the hallways?

Like school wasn't enough of a prison before...

:shk:

[edit on 14-10-2006 by WyrdeOne]

Gives me the willies and reminds me of Kent State and Detriot's "Black Day In July"... I'm surprised there were no deaths reported. In the '60's rubber bullets would have been a small mercy. Minors. I suppose it shows that societal problems can only be ignored so long as it doesn't make the MSM and even then, what's to be done? Sad and dangerous reality for those young people.

Thanx for posting that,

Victor K.

41'

Sad and dangerous reality indeed.

I wanted to clarify something real quick - I'm not passing judgement on the police or the students, I haven't the faintest clue what happened, other than what I read.

All I know is that in my day we didn't have police at school, let alone riots that called for rubber bullets.

And I'm only 26...

How have things gotten so bad, so fast?

I've been in plenty of fights, and I've seen some pretty shocking brutality demonstrated by kids, but this seems to be a whole different level. It's one thing for a couple of kids to fight. It's even understandable when gangs of kids fight each other...

But 500 students attacking each other and the cops with rocks and bottles, all because a fight broke out between two students?!

Fun, I remember when i was in 11th grade, kids would start a fight with some random person and a gang would start beating up on a another mexican or black gang member and make it into a racial riot. Then there were the crazy druged up kids who just attack everyone!!!!

That looks to me like about a horde hispanic kids chasing a black kid.

That's just freakin' wonderful.

So the schools really are turning into prisons, complete with race riots.

Fan-freakin'-tastic.

I spent some time in a school with a population split between white kids from upper-class homes, and angry, destitute kids bussed in from the ghetto. We had a lot of tension, relatively frequent brawls, but never anything even remotely like this.

I think parents would have to be insane or desperate to want to put their kids in the public schools with all the bad stuff that's going on.

[edit on 14-10-2006 by WyrdeOne]

I suggest trying youtube.com and then searching for fights, gang fighting etc. This seems to relativly common nowdays in the us, youd be suprised how many videos turn up.

How many of them end with the police firing rubber bullets into the crowd?

I can answer that...

ZERO.

I'm no stranger to violence, even gang brawls. I've lived in some of the nastiest neighborhoods in this country, and witnessed more than my share of brutality and mob violence.

The things that make this different are a.) the size of the disturbance, and b.) the reaction of the police. In my old neighborhoods, the cops would do a drive-by, flash their lights, get on the loudspeaker and warn everyone to go home.

I've seen fights involving upwards of 30 people, with bricks, bats, pipes and crowbars, and everyone went home when the cops showed up.

This time the kids stayed and fought back against the police...

I've never seen that happen, I've never read about that happening. 500 kids, armed with bricks and bottles, attacking police who were called in to break up a riot. That's unusual, no two ways about it.

Then check this out. I bet if the cops showed up they would have been targets.

I don't suppose you know any details about the incident in that video, do you?

I noticed they were using fireworks...

Innovative, to say the least.

Also, any idea if that's recent? The style of dress would suggest it's recent, but I don't know...

I remember a few times while attending a major university with about 26,000 students, there would be large mobs that would not disperse merely because the police or the university equivalent showed up. They could arrest students and charge students just the same and they did on occasion.

However I do remember having fun getting in a peaceful snowball fight. Some snowballs had some hard ice chunks in it. One side had about 2,500 people in it and the other side had about 2 or 3 thousand students. One side had an advantage because there was a slight hill. No harm came out of that as far as I know. You took a risk if you tried charging the other side though. Those ice chunks stung a little.

Another time (I was there) students took over large fields merely by their presence and then some of the streets. They would pelt cars with ice and snow if someone drove down that street. I wasn't involved in that. When I saw the police, I left because they were taking pictures. I heard a policeman tried to arrest someone but he quickly got back in his car when hundreds of students pelted him with ice and snow.

Other times I heard about students routinely taking over a public street and a few incidents where bottles etc. were getting thrown. This was back in the mid to late 80's. My campus was voted the most violent campus in the nation for campuses keeping public records. Too much celebrating after a national basketball championship. It really wasn't that bad. I felt perfectly safe even late at night.

The Mexican movements have take over the schools out there and you will see more of this. These people no longer want to pick you Spinich.
www.mayorno.com...

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
I don't suppose you know any details about the incident in that video, do you?

I noticed they were using fireworks...

Innovative, to say the least.

Also, any idea if that's recent? The style of dress would suggest it's recent, but I don't know...

Sorry no clue about that video, just found it one day.Whats really bad though is that there is a whole subculture sorrounding those videos, gangs fights, randomly beating up people,jackass etc.Youd be suprised as to what can be found on the internet, what really
is telling is the fact that most of these things have originated in america but quickly swamped over to europe ie. chavs, filming fights on handys etc

It was the usual Blacks vs. Hispanics fight at Fontana High School, and then another smaller one the same day at Pacific High School, in nearby San Bernardino. It's becomming more and more common in So.California...here's an excerpt from the local paper, the Press-Enterprise.

Fontana High School students clash with police

William Wilson Lewis III / The Press-Enterprise
Medical personnel roll an unidentified male student to an awaiting ambulance after a disturbance Friday at Pacific High School in San Bernardino.



Confrontations between black and Hispanic students on two high school campuses today triggered a riot by about 500 teens in Fontana and a smaller disturbance in San Bernardino that led to the suspension of about 60 students, officials say.

Rocks and bottles were thrown at police and sheriff's deputies during the lunch hour riot at Fontana High School before the students dispersed about 1 p.m. A fight between two girls apparently triggered the melee, but there were no reports of significant injuries.

At Pacific High School in San Bernardino, as many as 100 students refused to return to class after lunch, leading to a showdown between about 75 Hispanic and 25 African-American students, said Linda Hill, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino Unified School District.

"This Hispanic group charged the smaller group of students, and school police released pellets of pepper spray," Hill said.

One student ducked, she said, and was hit the face by a pepper-spray projectile. He was taken away on a stretcher and was arrested for disturbing the peace, Hill said.

Although some students scattered and returned to class after the pepper spray was released, about 60 remained and are being suspended from school, Hill said.

--Richard Brooks
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Posted by PE.com at 2:13 PM