2 Milwaukee schools punished after brawl

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2 Milwaukee schools punished after brawl

MILWAUKEE - Parents or guardians of players will be the only fans allowed to watch two high school teams play after a melee led to six injuries and 10 arrests.

Bradley Tech's boys team defeated Bay View High School 82-81 in an emotionally charged overtime upset Tuesday night. Tech students rushed their court in celebration, but it soon turned rowdy, with several fights breaking out on the gym's floor and one woman jumping on the back of a police officer.

Four police officers and a 15-year-old student were injured as was an 18-year-old student who apparently suffered a seizure and could not be reached by officers trying to assist her, police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz said.

Officers were forced Tuesday night to send out a rare citywide call for support, drawing dozens of squads to Bradley Tech. Even after police cleared the school, fans continued to yell at each other in the street.

None of the injuries was considered life threatening, but two officers suffered broken bones. The arrests were mostly for disorderly conduct, except for one count of battery to a police officer.

Milwaukee Public Schools spokeswoman Roseann St. Aubin said that the situation was a "mess" and that students involved in the fight face suspension or expulsion. Administrators from both high schools declined to comment.

The ticket limit announced Wednesday applies just to Bradley Tech and Bay View junior varsity and varsity boys and girls teams, meaning that their opponents may have as many fans as current school safety procedures allow.

But Bradley Tech and Bay View students and fans will not be allowed to attend. That's unfortunate, St. Aubin said.

"Any time you ban attendance at games, you worry about an outfalling from that," St. Aubin said. "To those people who are prohibited from coming in, you cut them off from a wonderful, for the most part very safe and enjoyable, activity that's happening on a weeknight."

St. Aubin didn't say how long the ticket limit will last, but Mayor Tom Barrett said he hopes it's at least for the rest of the season.

"We simply will not tolerate any level of violence at our sporting events," Barrett said. "We're not going to put students in harm's way. We're not going to put police officers in harm's way."

The incident was the first at a Milwaukee Public Schools sporting event this season, but an early January brawl involving about two dozen people at Bradley Tech prompted officials to ban cell phones from Milwaukee Public Schools. Female students had used cell phones to summon relatives and others to the fight.

The school district adopted rules this season to address increasing problems of violence at school sporting events — including limiting the number of tickets sold to 75 percent of the gym's capacity.

About 1,100 tickets were sold to Tuesday night's game, which was only about 50 percent capacity, St. Aubin said.