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Police begin to identify Boardman Park brawl suspects
BOARDMAN
Thanks to cooperation from outside police agencies and school officials, Boardman police are beginning to identify several people who were involved in a Boardman Park brawl.
(WARNING: The YouTube link contains strong language and violence: Boardman Park Brawl) Chief Jack Nichols said videos of the Saturday fight, estimated to have drawn 100 teens and young adults, that were uploaded to YouTube have been shown to other agencies, and detectives are beginning to question those involved.
“What happens is, you get two guys with a beef and they meet to settle it,” he said of the fights. During the investigation, officers have found at least two videos of similar fights that occurred in the past.
Nichols said what’s most worrying is a man who carried a loaded gun to the brawl and appeared to be refereeing the fight and threatening to shoot anyone who interfered.
“When an individual threatens to shoot anyone who comes near and interferes, that’s not a good situation,” Nichols said, adding he wants to charge that person with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Nichols said the footage shows teens from all areas, not just Boardman.
Austintown Superintendent Vince Colaluca said school officials and Austintown police are working with Boardman officials to identify the students in the videos.
He said the district does have a policy that if teachers or administrators hear of any planned fights or problems that originate online, they immediately contact the township police chief.
“Unfortunately in this case, we didn’t have any inkling,” he said.
Although the idea of fighting to settle differences is an old one, Colaluca said current technology presents additional challenges.
“I think with social media ... it can get kids to go out and watch a fight so much easier,” he said. “... And the unfortunate thing today is that kids just don’t bring their fists to the fight; they bring weapons.”
Boardman Detective Sgt. Chuck Hillman, the school’s resource officer, said social media actually is helping this investigation by providing a way to identify those involved, and the online videos can be used as evidence.
“But I’ve had other matters where social media has created a lot of problems. Something happens outside of school and students put things on Facebook or Twitter, and really it makes matters much worse. It blows things out of proportion,” Hillman said.
He added that the department is going to monitor Facebook or Twitter for more information.
“There are a lot of departments cross the country that have their own Facebook or Twitter accounts that monitor things like this. When you have a big event like this that involves juveniles, invariable the activity on social media sites goes crazy for a while,” Hillman said.
He said parents should know what their kids are up to online.
“Parents really need to monitor what they’re kids are talking about online. I’ve talked to some parents who don’t know their child’s Facebook password, and typically it’s those kids [without online supervision] who tend to get in trouble more frequently,” he said.
Colaluca said another thing that would help avoid such fights is working with parents and students to teach qualities of character, such as empathy.
“I think we get desensitized to violence as a community based on what the media as a whole — TV or movies — present,” he said. “We need children to make wise decisions. In this case, don’t attend the fight but let an adult know about it so someone doesn’t get hurt.”