Fights Break Out After HS Game
Security will be on hand for Wednesday night’s girl’s basketball game between Rock Bridge and Hickman high schools. However, school administrators say it will be the normal number of police officers and staff, despite a disturbance that broke out after the boy’s basketball game Tuesday night.At the end of the triple-overtime game, students and adults rushed the floor at Rock Bridge and fights broke out.”We had a fantastic triple-overtime basketball game between two of the best teams in the state of Missouri,” said Columbia Public Schools superintendent Dr. Chris Belcher.There is no doubt tension ran high as the final buzzer went off at Tuesday night’s game. Like many big wins, the fans stormed the court.”We had seven police officers, we had security, we had all sorts of supervisors, you just can’t stop that mass excitement,” said Belcher.However, that mass excitement turned into something worse. It’s not clear exactly what happened, but videos posted to the video-sharing site, YouTube, show possible fights breaking out.”Can’t tell if it was a fight or someone was trying to get someone off that had fallen down,” said Belcher.Now, school officials are talking to kids to find out what happened. Even more disturbing is what happened after the initial storming of the court.”We did see one parent walk across the gym and go after a Rock Bridge basketball player and from what I saw, she grabbed the player, and then there was an adult, a coach that said, ‘No we don’t do that’ and we escorted her out,” said Belcher.Within about three minutes, Columbia police were able to get the situation under control and made people leave the gym. Afterwards, the brawl moved outside.”I have heard about two or three [fights] in the parking lot and we will deal with each one of those specifically,” Belcher said.As the district deals with the students, school resource officers are investigating both adults and teenagers to get to the bottom of what happened.”We are trying to hold those accountable accountable, trying to find out who actually did push or shove, or do something inappropriate.but at the same time we don’t want to punish all the kids for being excited about a big program,” Belcher stated.Just like Tuesday night, there will be seven police officers, two retired detectives and school staff at Wednesday night’s game. Right now, officials are not expecting any problems.Typically, when adults get involved in these kinds of fights, they are asked not to come back to any other sporting events. CPS administrators tell ABC 17 News that any of those involved do have the right to press charges.
