Brawl Closes Rialto School

Officials at a new high school in Rialto on Wednesday closed the campus for the rest of the week in response to Tuesday’s lunchtime brawl between black and Latino students, the second such fight in less than a week.

The melee at Wilmer Amina Carter High School started after the groups of students lined up and faced each other, and one student allegedly threw a water bottle. Food and trash cans were then hurled, and fistfights broke out, said Marilyn Cardosi, a spokeswoman for the Rialto Unified School District.

“The nurse administered first-aid to 47 students either affected by pepper spray used by security to break up the fight, or students were treated for minor cuts and abrasions, like a cut over the eye, a cut to the hand,” Cardosi said. “There were no serious injuries of students or staff, thankfully.”

More than 2,000 students were in the central courtyard finishing lunch shortly before noon when the fight broke out. Administrators canceled classes for the rest of the week, and, because Monday will be the official start of holiday break, students will not return until Jan. 3.

Security guards and a Rialto police officer assigned to the school responded immediately when the fight broke out, and more Rialto police were called in to assist, Cardosi said.

After a bell rang signaling the end of lunch, hundreds of students fled the courtyard, running for their classrooms, Cardosi said. They were held in those classrooms for the rest of the day in “lockdown” mode, rather than going from class to class as usual.

The first fight at the school -- which opened this year serving ninth-, 10th- and 11th-graders -- was Friday and involved fewer students.

“On Friday it was same time, same station,” said Cardosi. “Toward the end of lunch in the outdoor quad area as kids were leaving, a group of students started to fight.”

She said eight students involved in that fight were being disciplined, with suspension or possible expulsion.

The campus was nearly empty Wednesday. Diamond Knighten, 15, was there for a meeting with school officials to discuss whether he’d be expelled for fighting Tuesday, he said. His cheeks were still swollen, and there was a large bruise under his left eye where he’d been punched the day before.

Diamond, who is black, said he has a problem only with the Latino who threw a Gatorade bottle at his head.

“I’m cool with some,” Diamond said. “I hit the one who hit me.”

He said he was not sure why Friday’s fight started but said tensions were still high Tuesday when students started throwing bottles and making gang signs at one another. He said the students are not in gangs, but both groups flashed the signs to show that they were not intimidated.

Diamond had been at Carter only two weeks before the incident, he said, but the racial fighting was no different than at his previous school, in Long Beach.

“It’s just so that one group knows that nobody’s a punk,” Diamond said. “In Long Beach, it’s the same thing. The same exact thing.”

Diamond said the brawl was like a battle scene in the movie “Braveheart,” when “everyone just ran to the middle” and started punching one another. He said he saw boys hitting girls and one student being hit with a garbage can.

He said his parents are furious with him for not walking away, but he said that was impossible. “I couldn’t,” he said. “It was a big fight. I ain’t gonna run from it.”

Cardosi and Rialto Police Lt. Joe Cirilo said no arrests had been made. But footage from surveillance cameras on the perimeter of the school was being reviewed by police, school security and administrative staff in hopes of identifying the combatants. Interviews were being conducted, they added.

Although the students were divided racially, both said, it was unclear whether that was the basis for the fights.

“They’re teenagers,” said Cirilo. “They all have individual personalities, likes and dislikes. We’re still trying to determine what the core issues are.”

Cirilo said all involved appeared to be minors. If it’s determined that crimes occurred, arrests could be made. Otherwise, punishment would be up to school officials, he said.

Cardosi said the student body was diverse ethnically and economically and that the campus has otherwise been safe.

Two forums are scheduled today for parents, administrators and city leaders to talk about the fights and try to figure out solutions, Cardosi said. Students are asked not to attend, but they will be part of future sessions after winter break, she said. The forums will be held at 10:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. at the school.

“We’re bringing the community, police, parents and the district together to address all of the issues,” she said.

After Tuesday’s brawl, the district tested a new emergency phone alert system for the first time that evening to let parents know what had occurred. The school’s new principal, Raymond Johnson, recorded a message that was left on every parent’s cell or home phone.

The day before, Johnson had gone to every classroom, responding to Friday’s fight, outlining his vision for the school and asking students a series of questions about theirs. The next day, the larger brawl broke out.

“I think our schools in Rialto aren’t any different than any other school in the Inland Empire,” Cardosi said. “There are things in society that spill over into other schools, and those things probably spill over into Rialto schools too.”