Adult instigates fight between students at bus stop, then joins in, Florida police say
A woman in Florida is accused of instigating a fight between students at a school bus stop and then joining the fight when it escalated, a video shared by police shows.
Two students were waiting with their peers for the bus on the morning of March 1 when they started to argue, Haines City Police Chief Greg Goreck said in a March 5 news conference.
The verbal argument quickly escalated and the students started to physically fight, Goreck said.
“Now, what makes this newsworthy is that one of the students’ adult family members decided to get involved in the fight as well,” Goreck said. “In fact, instigating the fight between the two juveniles.”
Goreck said the family member, an adult woman, was supposed to be at the bus stop to make sure all the kids got onto the bus safely, but instead she yelled profanity and encouraged the fight before joining in.
McClatchy News is not naming the woman to protect the identity of her juvenile family member.
The Haines City Police Department shared a video of the fight taken by a student who was also at the bus stop.
In the video, the fight starts with one student shoving another, then others get involved and students start to throw punches at one another.
The fight continues until the family member walks up to two students, one punching another on the ground, and encourages the fight to continue.
At one point, the student’s guardian hits another student that came up to break up the fight and has to be pulled away, the video shows.
“The involvement of an adult in encouraging and participating in a teenage fight at a bus stop is unacceptable and deeply concerning,” Goreck said in the Facebook post. “This behavior not only escalates violence but also fails our community’s expectation of an adults’ responsibility to help safeguard our children.”
The student who first started the fight was charged with battery, and their guardian was charged with battery and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, the police chief said.
Haines City is about 40 miles southwest of Orlando.
This story was originally published March 5, 2024 at 1:49 PM with the headline "Adult instigates fight between students at bus stop, then joins in, Florida police say."
