King eighth-grader sent to hospital after beating by friend

February 16, 2012 10:22 am by Frances Dinkelspiel

The atmosphere at Martin Luther King Middle School is normal today, following a fight on Wednesday between two students that sent one to the hospital.

Two 14-year old eighth graders who are friends got into an argument on the blacktop outside the school gym around 8:15 am, according to Sgt. Mary Kusmiss of the Berkeley Police Department. It quickly evolved into a physical fight.

One of the teens used his hands and feet to punch and kick the other, according to police. He continued to beat up his friend once he fell to the ground.

The injured youth was taken to Kaiser Richmond where he was treated for his wounds and released. He was not seriously injured.

Berkeley police took the perpetrator to a holding cell at police headquarters and he was released into the custody of a guardian. The case has been referred to detectives at Youth Services Detail, said Sgt. Kusmiss.

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  • berkopinionator

    Kids need to understand that a person that beats you up is not your friend.  More AM yard duty at MLK may also be warranted.

  • John Holland
  • FiatSlug

    Friends don’t harm friends.  With friends like that, who needs enemies?

  • berkeleykev

     Agreed to the “more AM yard duty at MLK may also be warranted” comment.  Beyond the issue of fighting, violence and “friendship”, there is the basic question of safety and appropriate behavior at our schools.  No kid should ever feel physically threatened anywhere, but it is unthinkable to me that a kid would feel like they could punch and kick a child to the point of hospitalization on school grounds.

    Our schools need to be places where no one could get away with that, and where no one would even consider it.

  • free2think

     B-Side left out some important details reported in the Tribune. This incident, like many others, included numerous students actively encouraging and egging on the fight.  This is how mob mentality develops and  fuels major brawls involving dozens of teens which get  dangerous and out of control quickly.

    The other great concern that which should not be glossed over is the injured kid was kicked and punched even after he was down on the ground. I suspect  concerns about head injuries is why he was sent by ambulance to be checked out.

    Kicking someone when they are down is shameful and cowardly,  worse kicking anyone in the head is legally an assualt with a deadly weapon, and should be shamed by our entire community loudly.  Yet it is hardly an uncommon occurrence.

  • JW

    The article says nothing about suspension or expulsion of the kid who sent his “friend” to the hospital.  Being released to the custody of a guardian doesn’t sound like much of a consequence.

  • sbon

    Thank you for including this information about the incident.  It’s disappointing to me that Berkeleyside used “friend” repeatedly throughout the article.  Friends DO NOT beat friends at school.  I hope this is also not the language the school is using in describing this incident.  I have seen King students hanging out on Hopkins by Gioia Pizza and the behavior happening between ‘friends’ is borderline and sometimes outright bullying.  I have intervened when a situation is clearly hostile towards one child, and I have also intervened when it feels like my own small children are witnessing behavior that is antisocial and threatens our personal safety (i.e. cursing, screaming, throwing punches and body slams in the middle of the sidewalk).
    Berkeley Unified is theoretically implementing an antibullying policy as we speak.  Additionally, the district handbook explicitly states that causing physical injury to another person is grounds for suspension or expulsion.  I hope BUSD follows its own policy in this case, even if it’s between “friends.”

  • teach.

    I am sure there will be a suspension.  Expulsion in BUSD is rare and requires a lot more than a fight….

  • lauram

    If you read the education code and BUSD policy in the parent/student handbook you will learn that a fight with injury is an offense that can be referred to an expulsion hearing. It is the discretion of the principal to determine if an inquiry is the right choice.  Expulsion processes and hearings are also used to develop a positive behavior contract in lieu of a transfer to a different school.

  • King mom

    Maybe a fight and not being a Berkeley resident? Just wondering.

  • Cammy

    I don’t think “friends” punch and kick each other enough to send one of them to the hospital….

  • BerkeleyParent

    Be careful of what’s reported in the “news”. My son attends King and saw the fight and reported that the fight was quite violent so most students “kept their distance”, neither moving in nor away. He said there may have been “a couple” of kids who shouted encouragement to the violence but most were silent. He said a few recorded the events with their cell phones. He also said there was only one adult around, a smaller man who had trouble controlling the situation.

    To say that “this incident, like many others included numerous students actively encouraging and egging on the fight” is pretty damning of our kids, especially if neither you nor the Tribune witnessed such.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/Y6WDFG4RJUXWDBLGO3GXVYJ7DU winter

    fighting is never okay however it does happen all the time .. what the paper also failed to mention was that there was also another fight between two girls later that day .. as far as the student that went to the hospital he was not hurt he back at school the next day . it make me wonder why did the school handle the situation the way they did not did follow the same procedures with the other fight that occured . fights happen all the time at king not to mention the drug activity etc

  • lauram

     Have you ever witnessed a mob fight at BHS? well then, enough said.

  • lauram

     Did the principal message also include a statement about disciplining those who encouraged the brawl? Yes, but since you are a parent you would have already known that.

  • guest

    is one of the students not a berkeley resident?

  • guest

    I did not hear about the other fight so can’t answer that, but one thing I am puzzled by is why some activities at King are kept so
    very much under control while more serious ones are not. For example,
    chewing gum in class is really cracked down on — yet coming to class
    high is not. Children who have just finished smoking a joint are not
    that hard to sniff out. They reek of marijuana smoke! My children tell me gum
    chewing is handled firmly (“don’t come to my class chewing gum! Spit
    it out in the trash,” etc) yet nobody bats an eye at children being drugged in their
    desks. I think gum chewing in class is rather disrespectful and I have no problem with that rule — but surely coming to class high is vastly worse. There is a drug awareness curriculum taught at King which looked great and explained the risks of smoking marijuana very well — yet I wish the school would take a more active role in putting this into practice. I don’t think the kids should be expelled or even necessarily punished for coming to class drugged … education and guidance seem a more powerful remedy than punishment … but I do think it should be taken seriously.