By Joe Orovic
It has become a part of Southbridge Towers’ lore. The Hammer Fight. Resi–dents have their own version of the story, which vary by degrees of violence, not by what actually happened.
According to three eyewitnesses, a sizable amount of Downtown’s Murry Bergtraum High School students (numbers range from 80 to 100 to “a ton”) met at their usual spot — the Burger King on the corner of Fulton and Gold Sts. Their presence there has been so common, locals call them the “Burger King kids.”
According to the parents who saw the incident early in May (they’re not sure of the precise date), tempers inexplicably flared. A shoving match escalated into a classic brawl. Two groups of students hurled half-empty glass bottles of Snapple at each other over Fulton then converged in middle of the street, forming a mass of teenage bodies flailing fists, cursing and shoving each other. One teen was reportedly flung into a yellow school bus dropping off students from P.S. 234 in Tribeca.
Panicking parents shoved their way through the free-for-all to the bus, hoping to protect their children from a wayward fist or bottle. One eyewitness, Jon Baum, says he saw a student get stabbed saloon-style, with half of a broken Snapple bottle. And they all saw the hammer being pulled out only to mercifully disappear as coming police sirens forced the mob to scatter.
Dominique Carmoega, who was waiting for her first grade son’s bus to drop him off, picked up the phone and dialed 911. By the time officers arrived to shoo away the remaining teenagers, parents had rushed off with their children, who also share the “Burger King kids” label.
A month since the fight, Carmoega still wonders what could have happened that day. “I thought, ‘Someone’s going to get killed.’” She says now her son is sometimes afraid to even come off the school bus if he doesn’t see her there.
First Precinct Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna said there is no paperwork to confirm the fight. No police reports were filed nor were any 911 assignments given over the radio. This could be because parents didn’t speak to officers and the force that did show up happened to be there, not needing to be radioed in.
Bologna doesn’t rule out a fight, though he is skeptical it was as wild as witnesses report. “Rowdy teenagers usually raise community concerns,” he said in a telephone interview. “It frightens people, I understand.”
The fight may be the most heated example of what Southbridge Towers’ residents say has become an almost frightening nuisance. “We try to live in a nice neighborhood and they are destroying it,” said Carmoega.
Paul Hovitz, Community Board 1’s Youth and Education Committee chairperson, said he knows of at least four “over-the-top” cases of violence near Burger King. “These are teenagers and they can simply be rowdy,” said Hovitz, a Southbridge resident. “It is a very frightening type of activity for all observers, who are at the mercy of this.”
Concerned P.S. 234 parents say Murry Bergtraum students make a daily trip from the high school location on 411 Pearl St. to the local Burger King to hang out and eat. A majority of days pass without incident, which many credit to the presence of at least two police officers almost everyday. “Everybody wants police coverage in front of their homes,” said Bologna.
An officer on patrol by the Burger King last Thursday said, “If [the students] see us, they behave. Or they go somewhere else to fight.” The officer spoke on the condition of anonymity since he did not have clearance to speak to the press. He said shoving matches and fistfights aren’t surprising, but that the police took quick action to make sure it didn’t escalate. But “as soon as they don’t see cops, they go wild,” said Baum, whose daughter goes to kindergarten.
The most recent incident, on May 15, happened while the two officers usually on duty were called in to help a block away. What ensued was a scuffle between two groups of students prompting three separate 911 calls. The fight quickly dispersed when the officers returned.
The causes of the fights aren’t exactly known. Bologna attributes it to a warmer weather, which encourages the teens to hang out outside and get a bit rowdy.
According to parents, there may be ongoing tension between groups of students from Murry Bergtraum, Washington Irving and Norman Thomas high schools. While no students at Fulton and Gold were willing to speak to a reporter last Thursday, one Washington Irving student, who asked to remain anonymous, said such fighting amongst schools was common and there has been hostility between Murry Bergtraum and Washington Irving students in the past.
“Every school has their challenges,” said Barbara Esmilla, Murry Bergtraum’s principal. “We only can do so much.” She said once students leave for the day, they are no longer within the jurisdiction of the school. The only answer, she said, is “a sustained police presence.”
Washington Irving’s principal did not return calls for comment.
The parents of Southbridge Towers have done much to bring the dilemma into the spotlight. Dinella Ascencso, another concerned parent and hammer fight witness, said a petition was sent to School’s Chancellor Joel Klein, the local community affairs officers were alerted and a meeting was held with Murry Bergtraum’s principal. Since then, the Police Department’s recent focus on the area may mirror the community’s concerns.
Last Thursday, after reports of a fight in Murry Bergtraum, police stepped up their presence by the Burger King. Two squad cars, a van and two scooters were present from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. to ensure nothing “spilled over” from the day’s fight, according to Bologna. When the crowd of students in front of the Burger King approached nearly 40 teenagers, officers asked the group to leave, to the delight of the parents waiting for the children’s bus. They hope it is a step in the right direction.
“We should be asking the Police Department for a long-term presence,” said Hovitz. “These fights tend to be over by the time the police arrive.”
Inspector Bologna says the officers will remain at the location until the end of the school year, and possibly over the summer if Murry Bergtraum’s summer school enrollment is substantial.
