Nov 17, 2008 6:03 pm US/Eastern
South Dade High Student Okay After Bathroom Brawl
Witness Saw Student Being Hit, Police Say
HOMESTEAD (CBS4) ―
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A student at South Dade High School is taken from a Miami-Dade Air Rescue helicopter after the teen was rushed to Miami Children's Hospital after being found unconscious in a bathroom.
CBS
A South Dade High student left Miami Children's Hospital Monday afternoon; he was airlifted there after being found unconscious in a school bathroom early Monday morning.
Miami Dade School Police Sgt. Ivan Silva said Alfredo Bocanegra got into a fight with another student in the bathroom around 11 a.m. Silva said it doesn't appear the fight was gang related and could not confirm if a weapon was used. He added that the school was never placed under a lock down and that they are still searching for the other student involved in the fight.
When a school resource officer arrived at the bathroom, Bocanegra was unconscious on the floor. The teen was airlifted to Miami Children's Hospital in good condition.
His mother, Guadalupe Martinez, broke down when she told
CBS4's Peter D'Oench what happened. She says she was terrified to learn her son had been airlifted to the hospital after a beating. "You see it on the news, kids killing kids. That's what I thought when they told me."
His sister, Erika Bocanegra, told D'Oench she tried to stop the fight. "I went in there and I seen them hitting him. Another was kicking. I grabbed them and then I started punching them." She said she called for help and is not sure what prompted the fight.
The injured teen's family and school police all told D'Oench security at the school is a big concern. The school's paper recently printed an article critical of the security situation. The article pointed out that there are only 10 security personnel for roughly 3 thousand students. Last year, on the school's old campus, was even worse, with only 3 security personnel for more than 24 hundred students.
Other parents are upset about the security problems. "That's not supposed to happen with the security," said Carla Rodriguez. "How did this happen in the bathroom?"
South Dade High School serves a large part of Homestead and South Miami-Dade and is located on SW 167th Street in Homestead.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Burned Teen's Family Staying Positive
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