4 Arrested in Melee at School

A rock-and-bottle-throwing melee involving hundreds of Crenshaw High School students began Thursday afternoon as a fight between two girls and ended with four people in custody, a school district official said.

The fracas broke out during lunch in the school’s quadrangle, said Shel Erlich, spokesman for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Erlich said two girls began fighting shortly before 1 p.m. and it escalated when friends, including one nonstudent, joined the fray.

“Campus police tried to stop the fight, but about 300 or 400 other students who were watching became unruly and some started throwing rocks and bottles at police,” Erlich said.

School police eventually asked for help from Los Angeles police officers, he said. At least 20 school district and LAPD officers were involved.

One person was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, another for criminal trespassing and two for fighting, Erlich said.

The names of those arrested were not released, and Erlich did not know if the two girls in the original fight were among those taken into custody.

Three students described as onlookers were hit with pepper spray and were treated by paramedics at the scene.