Fighting Breaks Out at Inglewood High

Fighting erupted on the Inglewood High School campus for the second time this week as students in an apparent dispute over what some called a lack of recognition of Latinos threw rocks and bottles, leading to the closure of several nearby businesses.

One student suffered minor head injuries and was taken to a local hospital, said Lt. Hampton L. Cantrell of the Inglewood Police Department. A police officer suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene, police said.

Seven people were arrested, including five students who were booked on charges of disorderly conduct and released to their parents, Sgt. William Siddall said. Two adults, Michael Griffen, 23, and Said Vallejo, 19, both of Inglewood, were arrested on suspicion of assaulting an officer and resisting arrest, Siddall said. It was not clear how they came to be involved in the fight.

Wednesday’s fight came after a similar incident Monday, when police were summoned to the school to break up a campuswide disturbance.

Officers used pepper spray on students to quell the fighting, Cantrell said. Interim Principal Edgar L. Gill said he did not believe either fight was caused by racial problems.

“We believe this is an effort of the students to get out of school,” he told reporters.

The latest incident began about 12:45 p.m. Wednesday, when students said Latinos and African Americans started throwing bottles and trash at one another during lunch.

Frightened students began rushing through the campus’ back gate, spilling out onto Nutwood Avenue, said Ana Flores, 15.

“Everybody started running and that’s when the police came,” Flores said.

Some of the students vandalized nearby shops, breaking several windows, authorities said.

Campus police who tried to control the fight were joined by about 25 units from the Inglewood and Hawthorne police departments and Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, Cantrell said.

Police in modified riot gear closed off Manchester at La Brea Boulevard, asking some business owners along Manchester, La Brea and Market Street to close their shops.

While many students speculated about which group began the argument, some said it began with Latinos who are not satisfied with only one day of recognition, compared with African American students, who have one month.

Students and authorities said the argument continued at a park near Manchester, where about 100 Latino and 100 African American students continued throwing bottles and rocks at one another.

Of the campus’ 2,200 students, more than 50% are Latino and roughly 40% are African American, Gill said.

“This always happens every year,” said senior Chisa Du-Brey. She said she has seen similar confrontations between Latinos and African Americans each year around Cinco de Mayo, but they have never been this bad.

Gill disputed the contention of some students that the fighting was racially motivated. He said he met with the school’s 80 faculty members, who told him that students were saying the disturbances “were for fun and they plan to carry it out all week.”

He said classes will resume today and there will be 10 additional campus police officers.

Cantrell said several Inglewood police officers will also patrol the campus. “There are many African Americans who enjoy Cinco de Mayo,” said gang interventionist Harry Warren, who came to school when he heard about the incident.

“But all it takes is one person to throw something to get it started,” he said.

Times photographer Bob Carey contributed to this story.