A crazy fight involving students and police at a lower Manhattan high school this week was captured on video—it occurred at the troubled Murry Bergtraum High School, the same high school where students rioted in winter 2010 over a bathroom ban. Among other things, you can see police forcibly restraining students and students cursing at cops in the video below—and just before the two minute mark, you can see one officer (above right) take off and throw a female student's hat, and the student punching the officer in return. Watch the melee below (but we recommend putting down your volume first).
According to DNAInfo, the fight took place about 11:15 a.m. Thursday; it's unclear what first got it started, but it may have been prompted by a fight the day before at the school, in which two 15-year-old boys attacked a 16-year-old boy, leaving him with a cut lip and eyebrow. The two boys were arrested at the school Thursday morning by police.
John Elfrank-Dana, a history teacher at the school, told DNAInfo that fighting at the school wasn't that unusual: "There are fights just about every day. But this was one of the biggest ruckuses I've seen in a long time." Altogether, police issued summonses to six teens for disorderly conduct and one for assault.
Last fall, the United Federation of Teachers said that Murry Bergtraum High School was the most overcrowded school in the city, with 104 overcrowded classes. The school was most prominently in the news after the principal took away students bathroom privileges in December 2010 after a fight between two students. A riot much like this one ensued, with kids screaming and running through the hallways like a tween version of a jailhouse riot.
