Football fight video released

Published 7:55 pm Thursday, October 21, 2010

Suffolk Public Schools released a low-quality, zoomed-out video of the fight that took place at Lakeland High School’s football game Oct. 9. The footage has been unhelpful in helping administrators determine who participated in the melee.

Suffolk Public Schools has released video footage of the fight that followed the Indian River at Lakeland football game Oct. 8.

The video shows that the fight started while the two teams shook hands at midfield. Many members of both teams were involved in the fight as it moved to Lakeland’s sideline. Some spectators then left the stands and crossed the track to join the incident.

The video, shot from near the press box on the home side of the field, is choppy and zoomed out from the field, making identification of those involved impossible.

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The school system released the video as a result of a Freedom of Information request, but it did so only after determining that no students could be identified from the footage, officials said.

“This particular video — which was recorded from the press box toward the field — does not clearly show any faces or jersey numbers. When school division videos contain footage in which individuals can be identified, the videos are considered student records and are exempt from disclosure,” Bethanne Bradshaw, public information officer for Suffolk Public Schools, said in an e-mail.

One student, whom the system has not identified, took responsibility for participating in the fight. That player was suspended from school from three days and from the football team for three weeks.