A lunchtime campus brawl at a Santa Barbara County, California high school turned violent, producing vicious attacks on law enforcement officers with food, water bottles, and punches being thrown. The fight resulted in a 90-minute lockdown of the school, as well as six student arrests.
Four male and two females at Righetti High School in Santa Maria were apprehended on Wednesday after the violent food fight and later charged with offenses including resisting arrest, assaulting a law enforcement officer, possession of marijuana, assaulting a school employee and obstructing officers in the performance of their duties, according to the New York Daily News.
The brawl reportedly began with a fight between two female students around 12:30 pm in the midst of thousands of teens who had convened for lunch inciting a large raucous and the summoning of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Deputy to break up the scene, notes the Daily News. The deputy was able to stop the initial fight, but a second fight reportedly broke out shortly after between two male students. That is when food and water bottles were reportedly flung at the deputy.
The deputy, now a victim himself, was unsuccessful at thwarting the violence, and had cheese sauce thrown all over the back of his uniform. That prompted him to call for backup. Soon enough, the high school campus was on lockdown and the Santa Maria Police, Santa Barbara County Fire Department and the California Highway Patrol, including additional sheriff deputies, were on scene to stop the violent food war, notes the Daily News.
One deputy was punched in the chest, and a female student was punched in the face after violently resisting a deputy’s calls for her to stop. Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Kelly Hoover said the deputy’s actions were justified, notes the News.
Classes resumed as normal on Thursday with amplified security.
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