By Joshua Benton
Blade Staff Writer
Page 25
A fight broke out at a Central Catholic High School fashion show sponsored by the Afro-American Club last night, leaving at least three police officers and one spectator injured. Several spectators were arrested.
The officers were treated for bloody noses, injured knees and wrists, and facial lacerations.
One girl was taken to a local hospital when she began hyperventilating during the melee.
The incident began about 9:45 p.m., when two members of the audience – which security personnel estimated was about 1,000 strong – started fighting during a party immediately after the conclusion of the show.
Four police officers were called to assist the three private guards at the school.
“The officers responded, and they were starting to get assaulted,” Sgt. Tom Kosmyna said. “It got completely out of control.”
The officers called for backup, and dispatchers sent all available units. At least 35 officers arrived and began to move the audience outside, where several pockets of fighting broke out in the parking lot and on neighboring streets.
John Algee, a religious studies teacher who was on the stage when the fight broke out, said the initial quartet of officers brought the situation under control and that the remaining units were brought in only for crowd control.