Fort McMurray Forum

Principal says after school fight not a "huge mob scene", clarifies inaccuracies by police

The principal of Father Patrick Mercredi High School says her school is a safe place, despite a recent fight that left a 14-year old in hospital.

According to Wood Buffalo RCMP, they were called to the complaint of a fight possibly involving 50-60 high school students on Wednesday at around 4:00 pm at the 400 block of Silin Forest Road.

There, they found a a 14 year-old male who was barely responsive, and had to be air-lifted to an Edmonton-area hospital for several injuries, including a shattered jaw bone.

Natasha MacArthur Poole says there are "inaccuracies" in the press release, saying the fight was between two teens, while another six or eight watched.

Poole says the fight took place off school grounds across the street.

The 14-year old victim was a student of Father Merc, who Poole says administrators have dealt with in the past for disciplinary reasons.

A 16-year old boy was charged this morning with aggravated assault and breach of conditions, he was not a student of the school.

"Unfortunately the way the police report has been released it's making it sound like it was a huge mob scene at the school, when it was really dealt with very quickly and it didn't involve that many students. I think it's giving the impression that Father Merc is an unsafe place to be, and it's really not," Poole told Fort McMurray News.

As of Friday morning the 16-year old suspect was still in police custody awaiting a hearing. The teen cannot be named.

Another inaccuracy is he was was standing up after it but when the police arrived he was down and he was responsive.