Food fight in school cafeteria leads to arrests

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    DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. (WGCL) — A CBS46 exclusive investigation revealed chaos in the cafeteria at Cedar Grove High School on Thursday and it was all caught on-camera.

Tia Watkins said school police injured her son’s arm trying to restrain him in the altercation.

“My children were targeted. They were not involved in nothing,” Watkins said. “They restrained my son for no reason. They took his arm and broke his arm. They pulled his arm behind his back and broke it.”

Plus, she said her daughter was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for checking on her brother.

“This is not right. It’s not right. They come to school to learn. They come to school to get an education,” Watkins said.

The food fight started over comments made about chicken wings and ranch dip between a cafeteria worker and Cedar Grove student. Parents tell us the student and worker were arrested.

Joel Edwards is a long time DeKalb county resident and is appalled by what happened.

”We need some good leadership in these schools,” Edwards said.

He blames a lack of leadership in the school system.

“I’m hoping that the parents can step up because it’s their children. It’s their kids in these schools,” Edwards said.

“We have got to take a stand. Not only the parents, but the community as well,” Community activist Sandra Holmes said.

It’s an incident which Watkins and other parents will be taking to the school board next week.

“It’s just ridiculous. It’s always something. It seems like every other day it’s something and they keep changing administration and now I feel like my kids have been victimized,” Watkins said.

The DeKalb County School District said the Office of Legal Affairs is now investigating the incident and the cafeteria worker.

The school district sent CBS46 the following statements regarding altercations at the school. The first statement refers to the cafeteria worker involved in the food fight.

“DCSD Police responded to reports of a fight in the cafeteria of Cedar Grove High School. A student and cafeteria worker had a physical altercation. The cafeteria worker was arrested and charged with affray and disorderly conduct. This is an ongoing investigation,” said a spokesperson.

The second statement references other altercations that took place on the same day.

“The district is aware that Cedar Grove HS had a major disturbance yesterday. Subsequent to the major disturbance, several smaller incidents occurred leading to additional arrests and a student sustaining an arm injury. Order was restored, classes continued and procedures were modified to ensure a safe dismissal.

In addition, officials are aware of the altercation involving an employee. The Office of Legal Affairs is investigating the situation, and the employee has been placed on leave with pay.,” added the spokesperson.

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