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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, February 21, 2009

2 arrests in second Wai'anae High fight

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Wai'anae Coast Writer

The second fight in four days at Wai'anae High School resulted in a campuswide lockdown yesterday and two arrests.

That's on top of five arrests following a fight on Tuesday that involved more than a dozen people and also forced a lockdown of the 2,000-student campus.

Police said the latest fight, which broke out at 1:12 p.m., grew so large that a precise count was not possible. Unofficial eyewitness estimates ranged from more than two dozen combatants, to upwards of a hundred, police said.

Still, there were apparently no major injuries. Of the two boys arrested, one faced charges of disorderly conduct, the other for harassment. Both offenses are petty misdemeanors.

Substitute teacher Michael Fister, who was in the middle of both campus donnybrooks, expressed frustration over the increasing outbreaks of violence.

"Someone needs to get to the bottom of why is this continuing," said Fister, who said those involved in yesterday's melee were not the same bunch trading punches on Tuesday.

"There are a lot of wonderful students at Wai'anae High School. But for those who are involved in fighting, the consequences need to be tough enough to make sure that the cycle isn't repeated over and over again."

Fister said it is a miracle that someone hasn't been seriously injured in all the fighting this week.

One student was treated for head and body injuries at an area medical center following Tuesday's free-for-all in which five people were arrested for misdemeanor assault.

Tuesday's violence started with two girls punching it out around 10 a.m. on the sidewalk across the street from the school. That was followed an hour later when an estimated 15 people became embroiled in a slugfest that spread across campus with pockets of combatants moving in every direction.

School vice principal Andy Szkotak said it was too early to answer any specific questions about yesterday's fight.

"What I can tell you is that we had an incident on campus today," Szkotak said. "It was unrelated to the incident that we had on Tuesday, and at this point, we're still investigating the matter."

After speaking with officers at the scene yesterday, Honolulu Police Maj. Michael Moses said, "they still don't know what the cause of this particular fight was — other than some prior disagreement between different families."

As far as HPD's involvement, Moses said that prior to Tuesday's incident, things had been relatively peaceful at Wai'anae High throughout much of 2008 and virtually all of 2009.

That seems to have changed now, he said.

"We're probably going to be going in and talking with the school administration to see if we can put our finger on what's happening over there," Moses said.

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.