Videos Show Middle, High School Fights, Some Students Arrested

EAST HAVEN, CT — A number of videos taken by students and posted to platforms like Snapchat and Instagram that depict fights in both the high school and middle school flooded social media this week with hundreds of comments from concerned families.

The melees led to several juvenile arrests of students as young as age 14, police confirmed.

Patch has reviewed six such videos, with a number taken from different angles, of a brawl at East Haven High School Wednesday, where it takes a number of school staff and the School Resource Officer to quell the disturbance. One angle shows East Haven police officer and the school’s on-site officer Nicole Burrell being tossed around as she works to subdue a student.

In a video purported to have been taken at Joseph Melillo Middle School, it appears to show a student that was jumped and assaulted by more than one near a locker.

Patch reached out to police, school and district administrators, and the mayor’s office for comment.

East Haven Police Department Capt. Joseph M. Murgo said in a phone interview Friday morning, violence in schools "will not be tolerated.”

“We have most if not all the videos and are meticulously sifting through all of them and if more arrests are appropriate they'll be made,” he said, adding the “case is active and ongoing.”

East Haven Public Schools Superintendent Erika Forti said a top priority is "school safety."

"We are deeply committed to each student feeling safe and welcome at their school," she said.

"While it is a component of our mission to model and teach appropriate behavior and work with students to strengthen relationships with each other, faculty, and the community, we take physical altercations very seriously," Forti said in a statement to Patch, adding that the district and police are working together.

"We are working closely with (East Haven Police Department) Chief (Edward R.) Lennon and his team to respond to incidents appropriately and address all incidents within the parameters of the Student Code of Conduct pursuant to the Board of Education regulations and Connecticut Statute," she wrote.

Friday, there was an increased police presence at both the middle and high school, Murgo said.

“We’ll be there as long as it takes,” he said. “In the schools, student and educator safety is our number one priority, our most important concern.”

When asked about SRO Burrell, Murgo said that she was eager to “get right back to work at the school Friday.”

“Her main priority is to foster positive relationships with students, which acts as a de-escalation factor. She’s been doing an excellent job and is undeterred. She made it a point to get right back in school today.”

East Haven Mayor Joseph A. Carfora also responded to Patch requests for comment.

“I am aware of the videos that are circulating, and I have been briefed on this very concerning situation,” he said Friday morning.

Carfora said police are “working diligently with the school administration to ensure that those who are responsible for this most recent situation are held accountable, but most importantly that moving forward the necessary safety and staffing protocols are in place.”