Several fights at Section V football games worry some parents

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — “It shouldn’t be the case that we wait until something tragic happens,” McQuaid parent Lynn Howlett said. “There’s enough data right now to know we need to do something and we need to do it before the next game.”

Parents are fired up as fights break out at local football games. These fights are not between players but spectators.

The most recent incident happened Saturday afternoon at the McQuaid versus Edison Tech game at Franklin High School.

District officials said they have strict protocols in place to help alleviate these situations but parents are worried these fights could escalate to someone being seriously hurt.

“I’m scratching my head and calling the alarm for some sort of security so that every athlete is protected,” Howlett said.

Howlett said she’s seen two fights between spectators break out in the past 8 days during or after football games.

“There were two girls that had a beef and they engaged in a physical altercation,” said Jim Sheppard, Director of School Safety and Security at the Rochester City School District.

Sheppard said they are reviewing the video of what happened, but said strict protocols are in place for these events.

“We work very closely with the Rochester Police Department, we contract with them to be at the games,” Sheppard said. “We also supply a number of school safety officers. The reason we use SSOs is that they know the students, so a lot of times they can prevent things from jumping off, and they may have information that there might be beef between different individuals or groups and we also restrict for certain games students under the age of 18 to attend without an adult.”

There was another fight on September 16th after the UPrep v Aquinas football game in the parking lot of the Rochester Community Sports Complex.

Another fight was on September 10th at the McQuaid v UPrep game at McQuaid.

“So it happened right outside the gate but behind the spectator bleacher so a number of folks just started standing up and turning around because of the fight breaking out and it just sort of crescendo down the bleachers,” Howlett said.

Section V leaders told News10NBC they are aware and are looking into these fights.

“This isn’t a city or suburban thing, this is as a parent, I don’t want to see one parent have to bury their child because there’s a fight at a game and someone pulls out a gun and that is just the reality that we’re in right now,” Howlett said. “How that changes is up to other people.”

News10NBC reached out to McQuaid Jesuit and University Preparatory Charter School for Young Men for any comments and we have not heard back yet.

Both Rochester Police and Brighton Police confirm no major injuries have been reported during these fights and no arrests have been made.

Sheppard said if you happen to know of any potential altercation in the city school district to reach out in advance and call them at 585-262-8600.