A student was arrested after a food fight escalated at Cypress Bay High School in the South Florida suburb of Weston, according to authorities.
A 17-year-old was arrested on one charge of battery and one charge of disorderly conduct Friday afternoon after a massive food fight that spilled out into the school's courtyard, according to the Broward County Sheriff's Office.
Officials said school administrators witnessed a 12th-grader throw an object. When the assistant principal tried to stop the student, he resisted by pulling, pushing and striking the assistant principal, authorities said.
He was taken into custody by deputies, one of whom sustained a knee laceration and a twisted ankle, according to police. The student, who turns 18 Sunday, faces felony charges for striking a school employee and resisting arrest without violence, authorities said. BSO initially reported the student faced charges of resisting arrest with violence.
The student's sister said he threw a piece of bread.
"Everyone was throwing things and they told him to move away," she said. "Two of the security guards from Cypress tackled him, apparently, and they were ripping his shirt and they were throwing him everywhere."
One Cypress Bay student said the situation "turned just absolutely insane."
U.S. & World
"Everybody just started throwing food and 15 minutes later I see the cops showing up," that student said.
According to another student, the fight began when someone started throwing apples. The students then moved outside to the courtyard and formed a giant circle where they were throwing water bottles and other types of food, he said.
The students said the scene was absolute chaos.
"It turned into a mosh pit for some reason in the middle of the riots and me and a bunch of friends got punched in the face and we started punching people," another student said. "They started chanting, 'Only at Cypress,' it was crazy."
Other students said a rivalry with Western High School sparked it.
"I think Twitter had a lot to do with it this morning because Western was talking about having a food fight and they're our biggest rivals, so I feel that Cypress wanted to do something bigger," one student said.
Some parents are saying the situation could have been controlled.
"Cypress Bay has at least five thousand students, and they need more security measures for one thing, but they need people in the cafeteria to not have this happen," mother Jan Silverman said.
The Cypress Bay principal is reviewing video and trying to determine who started the fight, said Broward School Board officials. It is still too early to determine whether or not there will be suspensions, they said.
