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Teen argument ends in bloody brawl

Thursday, May 18, 2006

(New York -WABC, May 18, 2006) (WABC) -- What started out as an argument quickly escalated to an all out brawl ending with two teens slashed. It happened in front of Louis D. Brandeis High School on the Upper West Side.

That's where we find Eyewitness News reporter Stacey Sager.

Two teenagers were slashed and one of them is in serious condition. We don't know why this fight started, only that several of the teenagers involved attend Louis D. Brandeis High School.

Police found the evidence on 85th Street, what appeared to be a switchblade near the corner of Amsterdam Avenue after a fight involving five teens sent two of them to the hospital.

Tony Battista, Eyewitness: "They started slashing each other up. The police took a long time to get here and they ran."

A fifteen-year-old seen wearing a hooded sweatshirt has minor injures on his face but was placed in an ambulance. Another eyewitness to the fight, too frightened to put her face on TV, describes an 18-year-old's injuries, which appear to be much more serious.

"Crystal," Eyewitness: "He was really bleeding pretty bad, he looked like he was about to pass out to me he lost so much blood."

It is, by far, not the first time police have been called to fights involving groups of students at Brandeis High School. Workers and residents on the Upper West Side are fed up.

Business owner Jin Hee Cha tells us she calls police constantly.

Jin Hee Cha, Business Owner: "Guys they touch my mirror, push it sometimes. So, yeah, I called so many times."

Catiria Sanchez, Worker: "It's pretty scary because they walk in crowds and when you coming out for a lunch break you pretty scared because you might get hurt."

There's no work on what triggered the fight, only that police are still looking for several teenagers, two of them students at Brandeis High School. Their classmates are relieved that it didn't happen inside the building, but frustrated nonetheless.

Katherine Rodriguez, Student: "I think it's good that they're worried about us but I think it's still kind of dangerous that things like that are happening around here."

Police say they have pictures of the students they are looking for and have been looking for them all afternoon. The injured 18-year-old was slashed in the neck and back.

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