On Thursday, a massive brawl involving at least 100 individuals near Stagg High School in Stockton, California, prompted police and paramedics to rush to the scene to try to get the situation under control and provide help to those who had been injured. The incident, which was caught on video, resulted in at least one arrest.
In a “wild scene” reported by CBS Sacramento, just after school Thursday afternoon, dozens of students became embroiled in a sprawling brawl that “spilled off-campus” and ultimately involved at minimum 100 individuals.
The brutal free-for-all, which included both males and females duking it out, came just hours before the school’s “Back To School Night” for parents, CBS notes. Some of the fights take place right next to moving vehicles, with students dangerously falling onto the street.
Police and paramedics quickly made their way to the scene of the unruly altercation, some of the footage showing authorities arriving and trying to impose order on the chaos, with little success.
“At one point video shows a single Stockton Unified School District police SUV attempt to break up the fights,” CBS reports. “An officer inside using a loudspeaker commanded people out of the street, but the crowd did not disperse.”
One of the people who filmed the fracas, Therese Saunders, who owns a flower shop across the street from the school and near which some of the clashes took place, gave an account of the incident to CBS.
“This one went from boom boom boom boom, all these different fights,” she said. “It’s like what happened in school? Was it a day to get revenge for each other?”
“Now it’s on Facebook, and you’re momma see you out here fighting, what’s she going to think?” she stressed.
When the first officer arrived and failed to get things under control, Saunders said she asked when the backup was coming.
More officers did finally arrive and eventually took at least one person into custody, as shown in some of the footage.
“The Stockton Unified School District sent an email to parents Thursday evening alerting them of the incident they call an ‘ongoing investigation,'” CBS reports. “A spokesperson said an individual who was treated at a hospital was also arrested for their role in the massive fight.”
Below is CBS Sacramento’s report, which includes the cell phone footage: