Morgan Hill citizens, school officials and community leaders this week were still trying to make sense of an April 27 brawl in which police said they were attacked by several teens while attempting to arrest a juvenile who had brought a knife to the Britton Middle School carnival.
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The Friday incident quickly spiraled into a large-scale emergency operation involving five police agencies, and resulted in the cancellation of what had been billed as a three-day family-friendly carnival.
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Police on Tuesday offered more details about the eight juveniles they arrested that suggests their assaults on officers were organized.
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“We’re under the impression that they all knew each other,” Morgan Hill Police Sgt. Troy Hoefling said May 1.
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The incident started on Britton Middle School grounds, 80 W. Central Ave., at 5:48pm, April 27, when school staff contacted two uniformed Morgan Hill police officers who had been assigned to patrol the annual carnival, police said. The officers were told that a male juvenile on the carnival site—on the northern edge of downtown Morgan Hill—was in possession of a knife that another student had given him.
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Police contacted the juvenile with the knife while he was in line for one of the carnival rides, authorities said. The child was arrested without incident.
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Immediately after that arrest, school staff then directed police to the juvenile who had given the knife to the other suspect, police said. In addition to providing the knife, that student had also caused a disturbance on campus earlier in the day and had been asked to leave by school authorities.
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When officers approached this teen on the basketball courts on the south side of the campus, the suspect “automatically” took a fighting stance, Hoefling said. “He was intent on telling officers he was not going to go with the program. He was derogatory, cursing at the officers, and didn’t care what happened and he was going to make a stand. He was going to do whatever it took to get to jail.”
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Additional officers responded, and the second juvenile was taken into custody, police said. While the teen was being arrested at the crowded carnival, other teenagers interfered and assaulted multiple officers, resulting in four arrests in the area of the basketball courts.
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The surrounding crowd grew to about 200 people, many of whom contributed to an increasingly “hostile environment,” police said. This resulted in police response from multiple agencies, including Gilroy, San Jose, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office and California Highway Patrol. A total of 59 officers responded to the scene before the crowds were dispersed.
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Many of those in the unruly crowd displayed gang signs, shouted gang slogans and wore gang-related clothing, police said.
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As police attempted to control the crowd, four more juveniles were arrested just outside the campus boundaries, near the intersection of Monterey Road and Keystone Avenue, police said.
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Police ordered the crowd to disperse, threatening to arrest any subjects who stayed in the area.
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All eight of the arrested male juveniles were local residents “from a variety of schools throughout the district,” Hoefling said. “Most of the eight—if not all” of the teen suspects have previous history with Morgan Hill police. Two of the suspects are age 17; two are 15; three are 14; and one is 13.
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These juvenile suspects were booked at the county’s Juvenile Hall on suspicion of a variety of crimes, including possession of a knife on school grounds; assault on an officer; felonious threats on officers; inciting a riot and resisting, delaying and obstructing an officer.
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Police did not release the names of the arrested juveniles.
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Hoefling said officers could have arrested even more teens who intentionally blocked intersections when police patrol cars arrived at the scene, “attempting to stop responding units.”
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The teens who assaulted the officers “jumped on their backs” and tried to pull officers away, “as if they were trying to rescue their friend from arrest,” Hoefling said. In one instance, a teen approached an officer while holding a skateboard but was quickly disarmed. The assaulted officers suffered minor injuries, the worst occurring when a suspect punched an officer in the face.
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An officer deployed a Taser on one of the suspects, Hoefling said.
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As a result of the melee, police and the Morgan Hill Unified School District decided to shut down the carnival for the rest of the weekend. The annual fundraiser for the school had been scheduled to continue until the evening of April 29.
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“Just like anything, it’s a few bad apples that spoil the whole bunch. We couldn’t take a chance of anybody getting hurt. Some of the kids had been known to the police department in (illegal) activity they had done before, together,” Hoefling said.
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Community reacts
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Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Trustees President Tom Arnett declined to comment on the April 27 incident when contacted May 1. He said he was “not fully up to speed” on what happened and he was planning to discuss the incident with Supt. Steve Betando that evening.
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Mayor Steve Tate, who presides over a city council that has long held the community’s youth as one of its top priorities, was distraught over the April 27 brawl. He said the lack of respect shown by the group of teens toward police officers and adults in general is “not acceptable,” and he thinks it is an issue the community should address.
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“We obviously have a problem,” Tate said. “We can’t say we don’t have gang problems. We need to focus on what (the problems) are, and figure out solutions.”
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Tate invited residents to discuss this and other issues involving the youth at his upcoming Coffee With The Mayor at 10am May 5, at GVA Café, 17400 Monterey Road. He added he will pursue other upcoming opportunities to engage those who are concerned after the April 27 carnival incident.
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By Monday, April 30, Britton Principal Chris Moore had sent a letter to parents of the school’s students in response to the unfortunate incident.
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“Britton site administrators are working with staff to have additional counselors available on campus for students who feel uneasy about this weekend’s events,” reads the letter, in part. “Staff will also review safe campus expectations with all students in their homeroom. Although only one youth involved in the weekend incident is a current Britton student, we are aware of the impact that media reports and the cancellation of the carnival will have on our student body.”
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Tate and Moore both praised the officers’ actions in response to the April 27 incident.
