Wild Wild West - 2 fights, 4 students arrested at Joliet West High School: cops

Four students were arrested after a pair of fights at Joliet West High School this week, police said.

The two incidents over the course of two days were just the latest in a series of violent occurrences at both Joliet West and Joliet Central High Schools.

In the first incident, shortly after 2 p.m. Tuesday, the police liaison officer assigned to Joliet West was alerted to a fight in a hallway, police said.

By the time the officer arrived, the fight was already broken up, police said.

The officer eventually determined two 15-year-old boys were fighting when a security guard attempted to intervene and was struck by one of the students, police said.

“Both juveniles were escorted to the office and placed into custody without incident,” police said. “The security guard was treated at AMITA Saint Joseph Medical Center for injuries sustained in the fight.”

Both teens were charged with aggravated battery and disorderly conduct and transported to River Valley Juvenile Detention Center, according to police.

Then, shortly before 11 a.m. the following day, the Joliet West liaison officer was told of a fight in the cafeteria, police said.

Staff broke up the fight before the liaison officer made it to the cafeteria, according to police.

The ensuing investigation revealed that a 14-year-old boy approached a 15-year-old boy and “began repeatedly striking him in the head while the (15-year-old) was seated at a cafeteria table,” police said.

“The 15-year-old juvenile then stood up and began striking the (14-year-old) before the fight was broken up by school staff,” police said. “Both juveniles were taken into custody without incident.”

Those two teens also were arrested on charges of aggravated battery and disorderly conduct and transported to River Valley Juvenile Detention Center.

During a board of education meeting last month, parents of students and staffers from Joliet’s two high schools urged district officials to do more to address the incidents of violence this year.

Just days before that meeting, a video emerged on social media showing a wild brawl in a Joliet West High School hallway.

Two 15-year-olds were arrested and charged with battery in connection with a Joliet West free-for-all concurrent to the video showing up on social media.

The brawl caught on video was but one of at least two fights that broke out that week at both Joliet West and Central, according to district spokeswoman Kristine Schlismann.

Schlismann would not comment directly on this week’s incidents.

“We are following our discipline and intervention policies and procedures,” Schlismann said. “We cannot provide student discipline information as that is a student record.”