SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — The Altamonte Springs Police Department is investigating a large fight that broke out among students Thursday at Lake Brantley High School.
Officials said 12 students were involved in the brawl, and they will be disciplined per the district's student code of conduct.
It’s not known what started the fight, police said.
Investigators said Christopher Jefferson, 18, was arrested and charged with battery, disorderly conduct and resisting an officer.
Reports said a faculty member broke up a fight and then Jefferson punched another student, which led to another fight.
Parent Darlene Spooner, who had three children seen in a cellphone video of the fight, said she tried to alert administrators before the fight.
"One of the boys approached my son at 7 (a.m. on Thursday) and said, 'What's up?'" Spooner said.
Spooner said she was at the school when the fight broke out, talking to administrators about another student threatening her son. She said other students attacked her son, and he called his siblings.
"So they come to the courtyard, and then all hell breaks loose with me standing at the door," Spooner said.
She said her son was suspended five days and won't be allowed to walk at graduation, and her other two children were each suspended for 10 days.
"If you clasp your hands and put them over your shoulder, you will not be suspended. Could you imagine the kid that was thrown to the ground, which is my son's friend, should he have clasped his hands and get thrown to the ground, or should he have backed them off? He got 10 days also," Spooner said.
Police said it’s likely more charges will be filed against other students involved as the investigation progresses.
Cellphone video of the fight shows about a dozen students pushing, shoving and punching each other as two school workers tried to break it up.
"The one that's on the ground with the red hair, that's my daughter," Spooner said.
School officials said no injuries were serious enough for students to be hospitalized.
The school is still sorting out what happened by interviewing witnesses and reviewing video footage taken by students.
Officials said the 12 students police identified were not allowed to return to school Friday.
Spooner said three of the students in the video were her children, and two of them were beat up and punished.
"They did my kids dirty, very dirty," Spooner said.
Police said the campus is safe, but they have officers at the school as a precaution.
Cox Media Group
