Police arrest 7 in school fighting

Scores of police swarmed Martin Luther King Jr. High School yesterday and arrested seven male students after a brawl ignited a series of fights throughout the school.

The fights prompted officials to lock down the school, on Stenton Avenue near Haines Street in East Germantown, for the final two periods.

About 20 boys were involved in the initial fracas, which broke out at 11:30 a.m. near the office of the school police officer, said Inspector Joseph Sullivan, Northwest Division commander.

As police responded, a series of fights cascaded throughout the school, he said. Many of the school's 1,094 students left early after classes were locked down.

Seven students were cited for disorderly conduct and one was treated at Albert Einstein Medical Center for a broken nose, Sullivan said.

School District spokesman Fernando Gallard said the brawl apparently was a continuation of a weekend fight in the neighborhood that was unresolved.

The school was shut down for two days last month to repair damage after an arsonist set fire to a third-floor lounge.