Davenport school district officials are downplaying reports of a riot this week involving 30 students at North High School. They say incident on Tuesday involved just a few students who were fighting and drew a crowd of student spectators. Seven students were arrested.
North principal Jane Artman-Andrews says sometimes one-percent of the student population gets in the way of other 99% of students who want to learn. "Teenagers sometimes don’t make the best choices and they don’t handle their aggressions in a manner which is always peaceful," Artman-Andrews. She says two students got into a fight after one student said something the other student didn’t like.
Three other students got involved and all five were arrested on disorderly conduct charges, while two other students were arrested for refusing to go back to class. A police liaison officer and a teacher were slightly hurt breaking up the scuffle. Davenport Police Captain Dave Struckman says one student was tasered.
Struckman says, "To reduce the possibility of injuries, a taser is a very effective way to subdue a person with a minimum amount of contact and a minimum amount of physical force needed and to get the job done, for the safety of the officer and the person involved." The 22-year-old sister of one of the fighting students was also arrested for getting into it with cops outside the school.