Students Charged in Fight Outside Ferndale Alternative High School

Five students who were arrested on Wednesday after a fight outside Ferndale's Digital Learning Center were arraigned on Thursday.

The fight occured around 1:20 p.m. Wednesday near the Gardendale Street entrance of the school, Ferndale Police Chief Tim Collins said Thursday. It started with two students and three more joined in. Collins said about 20 students were surrounding the fight when officers arrived.

A Taser was used on one of the students after a school resource officer was pushed to the ground as the two students tried to get at each other, Collins said.

There were five students arrested after incident, including three 18-year-old males and two 17-year-old males. An 18-year-old female was also arrested after the fight for behavior unrelated to the incident.

According to a media release from Ferndale Police Lt. William Wilson, the charges included:

Two students were charged with Resisting and Obstructing Police and Disturbing the Peace, bond was set at $5,000 each. Another student was charged with Disturbing the Peace; he pled guilty and bond was set at $300.

One student was charged with Resisting and Obstructing Police and Disturbing the Peace; bond was set at $10,000. Another student was charged with a city charge of Disorderly/Fighting, and bond was set at $1,500.

The other student who was arrested was issued a City Ordinance Warrant for Disturbing the Peace, according to the release.

Collins said police are meeting next week with school staff and administration to discuss security at the Digital Learning Center. "We want to make sure that everybody's on the same page. We're working very closely with the administration," he said.

Before the fight on Wednesday, four students were sent home from the school, Collins said. These students were not involved in the fight and did not return to the school that day, he said.

Previous reports in other media outlets stated that the fight had been gang-related, however Wilson wrote in the most recent press release that the students involved in this fight were not affiliated with any gang.

"While initial concerns about gang related problems caused the extra police presence earlier in the day, it turned out that the students involved in the fight near the school entrance (outside, not inside, of the building) were not gang related," he wrote.