GPD: No charges filed in girl fight
By Dennis Hill
Published in News on April 25, 2010 1:50 AM
Managing Editor
Goldsboro police do not plan to charge adults captured in a bdYouTube video apparently engaged in helping orchestrate a fight between middle school girls at Herman Park.
Police issued a press release Friday afternoon, saying that although the video might make some viewers believe charges are warranted, that the overall incident, from start to finish, does not support prosecution.
Two adults were involved in the April 8 incident, along with about a half dozen Eastern Wayne Middle School students.
Warning: This video contains explicit language and mild violence
"No criminal charges will be filed against the adults in this incident because the adults did contact Police when the incident began, as the perpetrators left the area and until the Patrol Officer made contact with her," according to the release, which also noted that everyone in the video had been identified by authorities. The adults were not the parents of the girls involved, but they were related.
School officials say they are powerless to do anything about an incident that takes place away from any school campus or function.
Some parents of children at the school have expressed concern over the adults' participation in the fight. But Sgt. Chad Calloway, a spokesman for the police department, said that there is more involved than just what the video shows. Investigators have pieced together what happened, using the video and the recording of the 911 call one of the adults was making during the video. The video doesn't show the complete picture, what happened before and after the video portion, Calloway said.
"They're working at not having the kids fight," he said. "She was asking for help."
The likely charge under such circumstances would be contributing to the delinquency of a minor, he said, and the evidence would not support it in court. To find someone guilty of the charge they have to have intentionally tried to cause a fight, he said, something officers do not believe happened.
The adults "did request Police assistance regarding this incident as it was escalating," the release said, adding later on that the caller continued to stay in touch with lawmen as the crowd of youths left her home and went elsewhere, allowing police to track them. Officers located the group and the students dispersed but reassembled for the incident that was caught on video after the officers had left, according to the release.