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3 teens, 1 adult sought in Youngstown fight posted on YouTube
YOUNGSTOWN
They recorded and uploaded street fighting to the Internet. Now, the people identified in that video will be charged with felonies.
The Youngstown Police Department, in cooperation with the Youngstown Prosecutor’s Office and Mahoning County Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office, has issued eight arrest warrants for three teenagers and one adult.
The warrants were issued in relation to the recent YouTube video posted on the police department’s Facebook page. In it, a large group of youths was observed fighting on school property on the city’s South Side.
Blake Valentin, 18, of East Philadelphia Avenue; 14- and 16-year-old males from West Judson Avenue; and a 15-year-old male from Guss Avenue each will be charged with one count of aggravated rioting, a felony, and misdemeanor aggravated criminal trespassing.
The fight being investigated by city police took place March 17 near Taft Elementary School on the South Side during the weekend while the school was closed. The video shows a shirtless teen in black shorts engaged in a fight with another teen. Multiple people stood around and watched the fight unfold with several people catching the fight on camera.
The video shows chaos eventually breaking out with multiple fights taking place at the same time.
Chief Rod Foley said the fight was not a staged event as seen on other YouTube videos of local teens fighting. He said the fight was fallout between two groups of kids who had a prior altercation over use of a basketball court.
“It looks more like a bunch of kids who showed up at the same time,” Foley said. “There apparently was an earlier altercation over basketball court usage, and some of the kids already had exchanged words in the past. This was just another opportunity for them to fight.”
Foley said officials still are reviewing the video and hoping to identify more of the people involved. He said more arrests likely are to be made in the near future.
“We are looking to charge everyone we can identify. We hope to have this done sometime next week,” he said.