Morgan Hill Police clarified via Facebook that a description of a large fight in the department’s daily activity logs, reported by a witness’ 911 call, contained incomplete information and the incident was likely staged with no injuries or malicious intentions.
Police responded to the call the evening of July 3, when the witness saw what looked like about 10 girls beating up another girl on the top floor of the downtown parking garage on East Third Street, according to the July 13 MHPD Facebook post. When police arrived at the scene, no suspects or victims were located. No one was seen running from the area, and police did not receive any reports from local hospitals regarding any suspicious injuries.
The post adds that two MHPD officers and one sergeant were already downtown for the July 3 Freedom Fest street dance, and were able to proceed to the garage “immediately” upon hearing the report of the alleged fight.
But police later found out that a group of children had “staged a fight to look real and broadcast on social media,” the Facebook post adds. The closed circuit camera surveillance system within the garage seemed to confirm that account.
The surveillance video showed a group of children hanging out and playing on their phones, according to police. A girl sat down and other friends set up their mobile phones to record the scene. “Immediately following the ‘attack,’ everyone was checking one another’s phones and continuing to hang out,” the MHPD’s Facebook post continues. “No one appeared injured, angry, upset, left the area hastily, etc.”
“These kids didn’t commit a crime,” the post adds. “They didn’t waste police resources. Was it wise? Probably not, but it wasn’t criminal either.”
An entry in the MHPD’s daily activity logs of the incident gave only the reporting witness’ account of what appeared to her to be a large fight with 10 girls ganging up on another, about 10:23 p.m. The entry, titled “Disturbance,” lists a disposition of “UTL,” which is short for “Unable To Locate.” The activity log also reports the witness told police her husband was running to the scene to help.
The entry doesn’t describe officers’ follow-up or the possibility that it might have been a prank.
The Times published a “Police Blotter” entry based on the original MHPD activity log on July 7.
