Bradley Tech-Bay View Brawl

Picture this:

An overtime victory by Bradley Tech over the visiting Bay View High School basketball team Tuesday night sent hundreds of fans onto the court, sparking a disturbance that injured four police officers and two students and led to at least 10 arrests, officials said.

A female spectator suffered a seizure at the height of the disturbance and required medical attention at the scene, Milwaukee Public Schools spokeswoman Roseann St. Aubin said.

Dozens of Milwaukee police officers from all parts of the city were dispatched to the school, 700 S. 4th St., about 9:30 p.m. after the end of the game, in which the Tech Trojans defeated the Bay View Redcats, 82-81.

Lt. Alfonso Morales of the Milwaukee Police Department's Criminal Investigation Bureau said four police officers and two female students, one of whom had the seizure, suffered minor injuries.

The disturbance "was the result of fans rushing the court to celebrate and students from Bay View not being too happy about that," Morales said.

"Tech won the game, and then some kids from Bay View jumped a Tech kid," said Myisha Milton, a Bradley Tech ninth-grader.

The Police Department issued an all-city call upon hearing reports of the disturbance, resulting in a widespread police response, Morales said.

"There were 1,100 tickets sold for this game . . . that's a lot of people in one area to contain," Morales said.

The citywide call for police support was issued in response to the report that a student was having a seizure, making emergency medical response difficult in the midst of the large game crowd, said police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz.

An all-city call?

Does that seem a bit extreme?

I suppose given the recent history at Bradley Tech it might seem reasonable.

This January, the school has seen instances of violence, police calls, and arrests. Fights have included parents. Yes, kids call their parents and they join in.

Bradley Tech is in a state of meltdown.

But a city-wide call that sends Fifty squads to the school?

Whenever there's a medical emergency in the midst of a large crowd, is there an all-city call?

All those police sent to tend to the unruly high school basketball game crowd were taken off the crime-ridden streets of Milwaukee.

The violent outburst at this Milwaukee Public School was given the priority of...of what?

A terrorist attack?

The fact that these MPS students are utterly out of control is putting all Milwaukee residents, and anyone visiting the city, at risk.

Milwaukee's police force is stretched so thin to begin with. At least that's what the incompetent Mayor Tom Barrett and November retiree Police Chief Nan Hegerty say; yet this fight was deemed to be so explosive that a city-wide call was considered necessary.

Two police suffered broken bones at the brawl.

That's two more cops off the streets for a while.

MPS, violence, crime.

The city is in CRISIS.

What's being done about it?

For one, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has relegated its account of the event to page B7.

I guess such a major story isn't worthy of front page status in the main section.

If an incident like that doesn't rate such prominence, what would?

As far as a strategy to crack down on the violence in Milwaukee public schools, students can no longer carry cell phones.

Yeah, that'll get things under control.

I think the most frightening thing about this mess is that these violent students will soon be out of school to take their place among Milwaukee's violent residents.

Wonderful. What a bright future is on the horizon for Milwaukee!

It's a crisis.

The city is dying.
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Watch video of the brawl here.
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UPDATE:

MPS has a solution!

The Milwaukee Public School System says it's planning to severely limit the amount of fans who can attend Bradley Tech and Bay View High School basketball games. The move follows a brawl that broke out after a game between the schools at Bradley Tech High School.

MPS Spokeswoman Roseanne St. Aubin says for the foreseeable future, MPS will only give two tickets to each player on the two school's teams. The players are only allowed to give those tickets to their parents or guardians. That would mean there can only be a maximum of 24 fans in the stands for each team when they play. St. Aubin says the restriction won't affect the opposing team for the schools.

That should help take care of the violence at Bradley Tech and Bay View basketball games.

Of course, you never know about the 24 fans. They could band together and start a disturbance; but it wouldn't take a call for ALL the city's police resources to respond. (If you can't tell, I'm being facetious.)

I do think that more will need to be done than just restricting who gets into the gym for games.

Most likely, there will be a lot of Tech and Bay View students going to the games. They'll just be hanging around OUTSIDE.

The potential for problems still exists because the thugs still exist.

What this policy does is move the problem to a different location. It doesn't solve it.

It's not really a solution at all.

Still a crisis.