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Wilkinsburg Police Chief Addresses Brawl Caught On Tape

WIKINSBURG (KDKA) -- Some parents are furious over a brawl between students in Wilkinsburg. They say security guards just stood by and watched.

But were those guards even required to step in?

The cell phone video of the after-school brawl was taken just blocks from Wilkinsburg High School.

"When I looked at the video, my first instinct was - where are the police and where is the security," said Wilkinsburg Police Chief Ophelia Coleman.

School security in fact was there, but because the fight was three blocks away from school property, they couldn't intervene.

They did notify Wilkinsburg Police about rumors of an after-school fight, but it wasn't enough to stop the students and some non-students from fighting.

"I also would like to reach out to the mothers whose children were involved, victims, and have them come to the police department to file a report," said Chief Coleman.

Two of those mothers involved said the hardest part of watching the cell phone video was knowing there were adults present and they did nothing to stop the fight.

SSIS Security, which employs the guards, said their employees follow company policy to act as witnesses, but Chief Colman wants to see better communication between school and police.

"And now that I know that we know about it, I feel that we should do something about it. I think that they need to be prosecuted because I'm quite sure that the kids that took the video know who these people are."

RELATED LINKS:
Local High School Parents Upset Over Brawl Video (5/13/13)
More Wilkinsburg News

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