(South Bend, IN) - Another basketball game, another courtside brawl in South Bend.

 

This time fists were flying Thursday night at Navarre Middle School on South Bend’s west side, just blocks away from Washington High School, where gang members duked it out at halftime of Senior Night a few weeks ago.

 

Nearly every officer on shift responded to Navarre Thursday night, with multiple altercations involving adults and minors breaking out. One man was arrested, and one juvenile was detained. "It was literally hundreds of people out here fighting," said South Bend Police Chief Scott Ruszkowski afterward. "A lot of kids, a lot of adults, a lot of parents."

 

According to Ruszkowski, three officers were already at the school as a precaution. They were following a report of someone in the crowd having a gun after the girls' basketball game when the violence started. No gun was discovered, and no shots were fired, but multiple fights broke out, spilling into the parking lot and nearby neighborhood. Sheriff’s deputies and State Police responded to help restore order.

 

Ruszkowski spoke to reporters at the scene. He was none too happy about recent incidents. "The excuses and the downplaying of these events are atrocious," he said candidly. "I was right here in the middle of this. The disrespect, the violence that was happening not just to other human beings but to police officers... this has simply got to stop."

 

The visibly upset police chief continued: "These officers are out here doing their job, trying to get everyone out of here safely. And to be mistreated, verbally, physically abused the way they were-- that is not happening again, I'm going to tell you right now."

 

Ruszkowski laid much of the blame on school administrators, suggesting they partially obstructed police. "I will tell you, there were administrators here, they were trying to assist, but there comes a point in time when assistance becomes hindrance, and that's what we experienced here." Ruszkowski said police can only do so much in terms of protecting the public at school functions. "We have made recommendations before. Obviously, those recommendations, I would assume, fell on deaf ears because that's not what occurred here tonight."

 

Navarre Middle School is overseen by the South Bend Empowerment Zone, a system of schools within the South Bend Community School Corporation. District school leaders met with Chief Ruszkowski on Friday and released a statement saying they will "strategize ways to eliminate fighting at our athletics events and to ensure the safety of our students and staff."