Fight at Northeast Philadelphia middle school caught on camera
NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- New video of a fight at a school in Northeast Philadelphia is under investigation.
Action news obtained cell phone video recorded inside Woodrow Wilson Middle School back on January 15th. District officials were unaware of the incident as of Thursday, but they're now looking into it.
We talked to parents and students who say as alarming as the video is, it's not that unusual at Wilson or at nearby Northeast High School anymore.
The cell phone video shows a large number of students involved in the fight. It appears to start in a classroom and escalate out in the hallway where punches are thrown and one male student gets stomped repeatedly on the head.
Rachel Schumacher is one of the parents we spoke with. She says, "I've heard that happens a lot. That's very common because the school is overpopulated."
Schumacher's daughter Rebeka is in the 7th grade. She picks up her daughter afterschool and has her own videos showing fights afterschool out on Cottman Avenue as Wilson Middle and Northeast High dismiss right around 3 p.m.
"They're getting restless. There's too many children. There's too much overpopulation with the budget cuts - that's the big problem," she said.
Her daughter told us she witnesses small fights all the time, and called them a distraction.
Rebeka tells us, "Yeah, definitely for learning. Every time there's a fight outside the door I just look and the teacher is like pay attention."
Victoria Santiago has two younger siblings at Wilson.
After seeing the video Victoria said, "That's ridiculous. How they just let the kids beat on that child like that."
The school is staffed with Philadelphia and school police. Schumacher believes there needs to be a larger police presence, especially at dismissal, and class size should be addressed.
By the way, Rebeka told us cell phones aren't even allowed in the school, but she's glad someone had one.
"It's a good thing that they do so we can get more protection in school," she said.
Philadelphia police did take an assault report, but the victim and his mother were uncooperative, and so no charges were ever filed. In fact, police tell us the victim broke a window in the building after the fight and he himself was charged with vandalism.
