ENGLEWOOD, N.J.—At least 12 Dwight Morrow High School students will face criminal charges due to a melee April 30 that began between two students and soon escalated, said Englewood’s deputy police chief on May 2.
“There are so far a total of 12 students being charged criminally. Six of the 12 are adult students and are being charged with failure to disperse, five juveniles are being charged with failure to disperse and one juvenile is being charged with disorderly conduct and trespass,” Deputy Chief Gregory Halstead told Northern Valley Press.
He said disciplinary charges are still being assessed by high school administrators but are likely to be five- or 10-day suspensions “depending on the level of each combatant’s involvement. There may possibly be more severe disciplinary measures employed,” he said.
Halstead said that the fights that erupted Tuesday at the city’s public high school were calmed before police arrived on scene about 1 p.m.
Halstead said it wasn’t immediately clear what caused the physical altercations in the school’s south building, which involved male students fighting and female students yelling at each other during the fracas.
Halstead said one male was treated for a minor eye injury following the fights, and all students involved in the melee were asked to not return to school the next day until more facts were compiled to determine what caused the fights. Halstead said preliminary investigation revealed the rumble was related to “rival factions of some sort” in the school.
School officials and officers of the Englewood Police Department Youth Services Division were investigating the incident, Halstead said.
“As we move forward, aggressors who have been positively identified will be charged in all likelihood with disorderly conduct,” Halstead told Northern Valley Press before Thursday’s announced charges.
Halstead said police would likely charge one student with defiant trespass, noting that student was told to remain home due to a prior incident the day before but showed up Tuesday and allegedly provoked the melee.
Halstead said police were told the fight started between two male students and mutual friends joined the brawl.
Englewood Police Chief Lawrence Suffern said information and calls from residents was critical to identifying all those involved in the melee and thanked residents for all the assistance in providing tips and naming students involved.
He said the community’s involvement will play a key role in helping the police and high school officials to issue disciplinary penalties as well as criminal charges, as necessary.
Suffern said the police-community cooperation was “an invaluable tool in keeping our schools safe for our children and fostering an environment conducive to learning.”
Halstead noted anyone with information that could assist the investigation should call administration officials at Dwight Morrow High School or the police department’s Youth Services Division at (201) 568-4713.
Efforts to update the investigation status with multiple calls to police and high school officials were not returned by press time.